Paseo Nuevo Housing Deal to be Discussed Without Nordstrom Proposal
Tracy Lehr
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The Paseo Nuevo is preparing for holidays and visitors can already enjoy its big Christmas tree and soon shoppers will be able to visit Santa at a storefront across from Nordstrom.
But like many malls it no longer has its Macy’s and Nordstrom anchor stores.
Many Central Coast locals remember the Paseo Nuevo’s retail heyday.
Shannon Givens helped open the Nordstrom back in the day.
Givens remember the piano players, the elegant entrances, and the friends she made.
She is one of many people paying attention to talks about its future.
The city of Santa Barbara is looking to add market value and low income housing with incentives for developers.
“The Paseo Nuevo Mall, there has been a real changed retail environment in the last 5 or 6 years and retailers are looking at brick and mortar storefronts in a very different way,” said City Administrator Kelly McAdoo. “We’ve had the Paseo Nuevo Mall here in downtown Santa Barbara since 1989 and we really need to start thinking about how do we create the next catalyst for downtown, we have an opportunity right now through a partnership we have with a development team to build a number of housing units in downtown.”
The city is in talks with the owner of Shoppoff Realty Investments that owns the Nordstrom building and of the owners of the mall’s lease that includes Macy’s.
“There are a couple of partners that are part of the ownership structure at he Paseo Nuevo Mall, “said McAdoo, “The city owns the land underneath and then there is a group that is affiliated with alliance bernstein, they own the former Macy’s building and much of the inline retail shops and then there is a separate company Shopoff that owns the former Nordstrom building and in order for the development to happen all three of those parties , the city, ab and Shopoff have to agree to allow housing on the site.”
Some people including Greg County who works without the unhoused, would like to see a mix of market value and affordable housing.
“Right now we have a proposal for Nordstroms for 112 housing units, it would include inclusionary restricted affordable units in that site, and similarly we are looking at a project on the former Macy’s building of about 233 housing units that will also be going to council.
They will need to work through restrictive agreements on the property.
On December 2nd, city council will discuss getting the ball rolling with Alliance Bernstein plan and then they will have conversations with Shopoff realty investments at a later date.
And while Macy’s has to be torn down to build housing, the Nordstrom building owned by Shopoff is still structurally sound and viable so they could build housing within its walls.
The City Administrator calls that adaptive reuse.
And fun fact – Shoppoff is the proper name of the investment company founder William A. Shoppoff.
We will have reaction to the Paseo Nuevo plans tonight on the news.