••• “Whether any housing gets built [at Paseo Nuevo] remains a matter of intense negotiations between City Hall and AllianceBernstein, the finance company that found itself stuck with Santa Barbara’s downtown mall when its prior owners defaulted and were foreclosed upon. AllianceBernstein initially proposed building roughly 500 units—possibly seven stories high. But upon closer inspection, AllianceBernstein’s engineers determined that far more foundational work would need to be done to accommodate the stress loads associated with so many housing units.” As a result, the company “is now discussing plans to build somewhere between 200 and 250 units of high-end market housing on the Paseo Nuevo site instead and devoting more of the mall’s square footage to retail than it did in its initial iteration.” The last thing downtown needs is more retail. —Independent
••• “Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse disclosed on Friday that he will seek re-election next year.” It’s certainly safe to say that his work is not done here. —Newsmakers
••• Architect Henry Lenny “who designed some of Santa Barbara’s most well-known buildings, has died. He was 77. Lenny designed the Highway 101 bridge over State Street, the Granada Garage and Storke Placita, including its controversial King Carlos statue, and led the restoration of the historic El Paseo and Casa de la Guerra, among dozens of other projects. He also had a hand in elements of Paseo Nuevo, the Biltmore Hotel and Fess Parker Red Lion Inn.” —Noozhawk
••• “More than 50 local architects, designers and planners have united to take a stand against two large apartment projects proposed for the hills above Santa Barbara,” 505 E. Los Olivos Street, and another at 1609-1615 Grand Avenue. —Noozhawk
••• “The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced a 30-day public comment period opening Monday concerning changes to current federal protections to allow new oil and gas leasing and development on public lands including within the California Coastal National Monument and the Carrizo Plain National Monument. […] Public comments on the proposed changes must be submitted through the Bureau of Land Management’s project website.” —KEYT
••• “In honor of its 25th anniversary, [the Ritz-Carlton Bacara] has undergone a multi-million-dollar revamp of the lobby, guest rooms, restaurants, pool experience, and public spaces,” says Travel + Leisure. The visit sounds like it was comped, but there is news: the all-day Lulio restaurant has opened, and there’s also “a new coffee shop that offers artisanal coffee and pastries” near the entrance. P.S. Before you use the phrase “high tea,” read this. (Photo by Ron Starr.)
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The last thing the City needs is luxury housing downtown.
Well, according to this recent grand jury report it cost $1M to build an affordable unit in this city. The city has created such a restrictive and regulated building environment luxury housing is the only type of housing that can be built. https://www.noozhawk.com/grand-jury-calls-for-urgent-action-on-south-coast-housing-crisis/
As a resident of downtown, I believe we need all housing types downtown. We need all income people living downtown to make the businesses viable and the overall community vibrant. At a cost of $1M per affordable unit, the city/county don’t have the resources (taxpayers) to build enough affordable housing and private builders of housing don’t work for free.
Yes, this! I’m also a resident downtown and support just building more housing. Luxury units make sense for new development, which in turn puts downward pressure on the prices for existing housing, making those units more affordable. And FWIW, more affordable housing is also in the pipeline nearby with the Presidio Springs redevelopment project.
The last thing the city needs is cars back on State Street.
What is the downside to cars back on State? There’d still plenty of room pedestrians, there’d still be bike lanes, les out of control e-bikes, all while bringing back people who still rely heavily on cars (the elderly, the disable, the lazy, and the tourists) as well as bringing back parades. All this talk recently of “activating” State Street while ignoring that the most active State Street has even been was during parades.
I don’t think there’d be enough room for outdoor dining, protected bike lanes, increased pedestrian space, and cars. And of that group, I view cars as the outlier that doesn’t mix and decreases safety. In general, I am bullish on building more dedicated/protected bike infrastructure to encourage riding as an alternative to driving. Nearly every other street/freeway has been optimized and subsidized for cars already. The popularity of e-bikes should be viewed as a good thing, but let’s make it safer for everyone. Specific to State Street, I think that means better separation of lanes from pedestrian areas, better enforcement against unsafe riding, and keeping it closed to cars.
Current homeowners are strained by ‘unaffordable’ taxes, insurance, upkeep. We need an effective CITY MANAGER and with a focus on affordable policy to help residents keep what they have and a city budget that isn’t bleeding at every turn. The ‘affordable’ housing excuse to cram every open space with cheaply built ‘luxury’ has become outrageously foolish, unrealistic and tone deaf.
100% agree….the days of Jim Armstrong are well over…no one has done the job as well since he left the building…!
City Council makes the policies, not the city manager. While City Council talks a lot about affordable housing, many of their legislative actions discourages the creation of new housing units, makes the construction of housing more expensive, or increases the cost of living in Santa Barbara.
Thank you for the link to the high tea article. It makes me cringe when local hotel and restaurants insist on using the phrase High Tea to describe their Afternoon Tea experience. I complain all the time but the looks I get, as if I am daft, are equally annoying. As an anglophile and someone who has lived and worked in England for many years, I do know the difference. Following a recent trip to England I posted the difference on my social media and was happy to read comments of thanks for the explanation from my followers. So, thanks Siteline.
The city – including all citizens – must continue to fight back against the irresponsible developers who are trying to take advantage of the inane Builders Remedy to build an 8 story apartment tower next to the historic Mission of Santa Barbara. This project goes against the design ethos that has been in place for over 100 years in SB and has made it the incredibly beautiful city it remains today. I call on all SB citizens to protest this project with the city and to boycott the architectural firm – Bildsten Architecture and Planning – which is designing the hideous project.
When are the people of Santa Barbara going to say enough? Enough of the greedy, developers and city managers! As a resident of Santa Barbara for over 40 years, I must say I’m looking to leave. The development is out of control! the rents on State Street have decimated the small town lovely feel Santa Barbara used to have. Why do we need more development? Because of the greedy developers. Could we please get city administration that actually cares about our beloved “old” Santa Barbara? All of the things that made Santa Barbara. Such a wonderful town are now gone. What next? A Walmart on Street Street??
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! We are NOT benefiting from any of this! An eight story development next to the mission??? Really? Nobody wants that!
Hi Holly, rents on lower State have been trending down over the past several years while upper State, Mesa, Milpas, and the waterfront have increased. Areas of the funk zone and Coast Village are 3-4x what State Street is – it’s not the rents that destroyed the small town feel of Santa Barbara. I’m not sure where you get the sense that development is out of control, development in Santa Barbara occurs at a very anemic pace.
How interesting! I tried to leave a comment that was negative towards the city administration and development and it says I’ve already commented.
Comments by first-time commenters have to be moderated. It’s an anti-spam measure