Month: August 2025

Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – A groundbreaking ceremony was held this morning to mark the beginning of the redevelopment of a high-profile building in Santa Maria that is seen a potential catalyst for the long-planned revitalization of downtown area.

The multi-story Heritage Walk Lofts project is located in Santa Maria Town Center West in the well-known building that formerly housed Mervyn’s and Fallas department stores.

Santa Barbara-based The Vernon Group is planning to turn the two-story 85,000 square foot building into a 104-unit residential complex called Heritage Walk Lofts.

“It’s six years in the making,” said The Vernon Group President Brett Vernon. “Honestly, today is such a huge milestone.” 

The project is the first in a number of developments The Vernon Group has proposed for the downtown area that is centered around Broadway and Main Street.

“It’s an adaptive reuse,” said Vernon. “They’re going to be loft style apartments where each loft has a second story in it. A lot of them have spiral staircases going up or really going for that loft style and embracing it. There’s going to be a courtyard in the middle that’s private to the residents and a breezeway access into it. There’s going to be residents on both the inside and the outside of the building, and it’s primarily just for residents here to start the initial migration of of people living downtown.”

For many in the city, especially longtime leaders like Mayor Alice Patino, the project is seen as transformational and a potentially the start of the long-planned revitalization effort to remake the downtown area.

“This is huge for the City of Santa Maria,” said Patino. “It is a big day. We have gone through focus groups. We have gone through meetings of the Planning Commission and at the City Council level to get this finally off and rolling.

In addition to Heritage Walk Lofts, The Vernon Group has also proposed a project called the Alvin Newton Apartments that is planned for the lot next door to Bank of America, which is located adjacent to the Santa Maria Town Center mall.

A third proposed project is the Perlman Apartments, an affordable housing development that would be located directly across the street from the Alvin Newton Apartments on the site that is the current home of Perlman Park.

Another residential project called Crossroads would be build catty-corner from the Perlman Apartments on the lot that formerly was the site of Boot Barn.

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – There could have been a big pivot in the City of Santa Barbara and with its biggest event of the year a few weeks ago, but those involved stayed the course and there’s been a big payoff, for the most part.

Old Spanish Days is now over except for the final paperwork and after-action meetings.

Depending the area, some say it exceeded the forecasted turnout and other areas where people saw a shift from the normal crowds, depending on the day and time.

El Presidente Fritz Olenberger said he saw full crowds at the Fiesta Pequeña kickoff event at the Old Mission, Las Noches de Ronda at the Courthouse Sunken Garden and at both parades. De la Guerra Plaza, the main mercado had many hours with full crowds, and some mid afternoon periods where no lines were running.

Across the street Casa de la Guerra had a smaller stage and more vendors. It had offered a “beer garden” concept in the past but decided not to this year, and instead offering it to Old Spanish Days (OSD). OSD could have put a beer garden together, but felt the vendors and dancing stage was the best offering and it was “packed” all weekend, according to Olenberger who checked often to see if the plan paid off. “Loved it, and it’s it’s an amazing event. It really pulls this city together, ” he said.

At one point he was featured by spending time with a pile of Fiesta posters, signing them for the shoppers.

The two settings across from each other “complemented each other. It was it was just an enormous mass of people and everybody was having fun,” said Olenberger.

Where you could find a simmering conflict would be the mood of the vendors who paid for their spots and saw many unpermitted street vendors setting up around downtown undercutting their prices. Those eating bacon wrapped hot dogs and papusas say the prices were very good, the food was authentically prepared on site and they sellers were open after midnight.

Those vendors for months have been the focus of government hearings, since they generally do not have health permits, inspections, refrigeration or sanitation as required by the county. Santa Barbara County Health officers were in the downtown area for Fiesta, wearing their identifications, and inspecting the Old Spanish Days booths for compliance.

According to a few of the sellers who have been there before, the food orders were down about 20-30 percent from past years, but they felt it was a success and a good choice to be in the hub of activity.

   Ruben Orozco from Elubia’s Kitchen said, “It was good. We will be back. Its great for the community. Sales were down. There were a lot of out of town hotdog and food trucks on or near State Street.”

Old Spanish Days and the city have said they will address the issue.

On the street one highlight was the “banda” spontaneous music that was seen strolling on State Street throughout the weekend, usually with a big crowd of festive dancers following along.

Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse, “I think it’s great for the city spirit, too. You know, there was a lot of rumors and negativity floating around. I just thought the energy and, the positivity outweighed everything else. I thought it was fabulous. “

Look around the worn out plaza are Olenberger agreed it was a sign of a lot of people on the site. ” I was here, right here at this location, Friday evening, and it was so packed I couldn’t even move. And people were having a blast.”

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