Elijah Brumback

Santa Barbara-based development and construction firm The Towbes Group plans on building housing in Santa Maria for a long time.

Mike Towbes, the company’s chairman and owner, said at a Feb. 10 ribbon cutting for Siena Apartments, the latest project delivered by the firm, that he expects to continue adding new apartments and mixed-use development in Santa Maria at a healthy clip.

“We’re here to stay,” Towbes told the Business Times at the event. “We think apartments are a big part of the market now here. People like and want apartments because of the flexibility, and they really want all the amenities.”

The company has been busy over the last several years in the city, recently completing the gated, 140-single-family-home Lavigna community and opening the first of 211 units in Siena.

The company is starting construction this year on Hancock Terrace, a 268-apartment project off Boone Street. Towbes said the firm is also hoping to move forward on senior living and mixed-use projects on Blosser Road, not far from the Siena project at Westgate Road and Sonya Lane on the city’s Southwest side.

“We’ve been really busy here,” Towbes added.

Shrinking development
A developer has set his sights on building 55 new luxury homes in the hills of Ventura, and residents recently got the lowdown the on the project.

At the Midtown Ventura Community Council’s meeting on Feb. 12, Regent Properties discussed the project, which is proposed for a 40-acre site above Hillcrest Drive between Lincoln Drive and Hall Canyon Road.

The firm is planning to build one- and two-story homes ranging from 3,750 to 4,000 square feet. An additional 170 acres would be preserved as open space, according to Regent.

The project is within city limits, so it would not require voter approval under the Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources initiative.

However, voters rejected a much larger proposal in 2002 that would have protected more than 3,000 acres of open space while developing 1,390 homes on 730 acres. That project involved city and county property.

Adding to the Collection
The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard has announced the addition of The Container Store to its growing list of entertainment, dining and retail tenants.

The Container Store, a big-box — no pun intended — retailer of storage and organization products, is moving in to a 25,000-square-foot building currently under construction and scheduled to open in late 2015.

“With every new tenant announcement, we get closer to our goal of creating a personalized experience for each and every one of our shoppers,” said Michael Pynn, general manager at the center, in a release. “The Container Store is our first home goods retailer, but they really do offer so much more than that. Having this well respected, high-profile tenant at the center should attract other retailers in the home goods sector looking for a premium center for their next storefront.”

Hitting the trail
A Feb. 24 meeting has been set for the first discussion on the development of new multi-purpose trail between San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach.

The goal of the project is to prepare a trail master plan for a route between the two cities through Edna Valley and Price Canyon. The planning process for the project is expected to last until the end of this year, with two rounds of public workshops. The end product will outline possible trail alignments, initial design of the trail and segments that have potential to be built in the near future.

The Edna Price Valley Trail project will involve assessing existing conditions, analyzing opportunities and constraints and developing design criteria, a draft trail alignment and alternatives, as well as developing an implementation strategy. The San Luis Obispo Council of Governments is anticipating developing the Edna Price Canyon portion of the Anza trail system, which will connect San Luis Obispo to Pismo Beach along Highway 227. The multi-use trail will promote alternative modes of transportation and offer recreational opportunities along the historic corridor, according to project officials.