Makeover Plan in Downtown Santa Barbara Could Bring New Housing and Shopping
John Palminteri
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The new look to downtown Santa Barbara will come with several different projects in the coming years including the possibility of a large housing addition where a portion of the Paseo Nuevo Mall is located.
The Santa Barbara City Planning Commission will get a close up look at the project today with its many moving parts. Those include some land rights and future profit equations, some that don’t immediately pencil out. Tax adjustments or other financial moves between the city and the developers have been discussed.
At the center of the remodel is the The Georgetown Co. and AB Commercial.
The target area is a wrapped project from State St. at Ortega going west to Chapala street.
Planners are looking at the latest drawings. They are calling for 233 market-rate units and 80 affordable housing units – the exact prices are still not known.
Normally, there is a building height limit of about 48 feet for this project.
With the state density bonus law that comes with affordable housing considerations, the height proposed here could be up to 75 feet.
That would take a separate action to approve the height limit over the current city standards.
Affordable units are also proposed on the top of Parking Lot 2 at Chapala and Canon Perdido St. The sizes range from a 435-square foot studio to 980-square foot three-bedroom unit.
Next week there will be two open houses for the public to visit and comment on the project.
October 15 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 16. These will be held at 707 Paseo Nuevo which is near the vacant Nordstrom building.
On that note, the Nordstrom building is not part of this project but it may also become housing and retail.
(More details, video and photos will be added here later today.)
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