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You are here:  Home  >  Articles by Marlize van Romburgh  -  Page 10
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Banking on a reunion: Funari and Ortega team up

By   /  Friday, November 8th, 2013  /  Banking & Finance, Top Stories  /  Comments Off on Banking on a reunion: Funari and Ortega team up

Longtime Santa Barbara bankers Joanne Funari and Eloy Ortega are reunited again. The two bankers, who founded Business First National Bank together in 2001, now have their sights set on building out the The Bank of Santa Barbara on the South Coast.

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Sonos sets tone for tech firms as it snaps up downtown space

By   /  Friday, November 8th, 2013  /  Columns, Real Estate, Technology  /  Comments Off on Sonos sets tone for tech firms as it snaps up downtown space

Music equipment maker Sonos markets some of the highest-quality audio equipment around, but the company is being very quiet as it snaps up thousands of square feet of space in downtown Santa Barbara. According to the brokers at Radius Group’s economic and commercial real estate forecast on Oct. 31, Sonos has now leased about 100,000 square feet of new space over the last year, and is looking for more.

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Treasury nets $3.2M loss on TARP in region

By   /  Friday, November 1st, 2013  /  Banking & Finance, Banking Industry, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy  /  Comments Off on Treasury nets $3.2M loss on TARP in region

As the last bank in the region exits the Troubled Asset Relief Program on the five-year anniversary of the federal aid program, the U.S. Treasury has recouped most of its investment in the Tri-Counties, taking a loss of $3.2 million on the $259.6 million it disbursed to area lenders.

By paying off $2.1 million in federal aid it received at the height of the financial crisis, Ojai Community Bank becomes the last of the region’s banks to exit TARP. All told, the U.S. Treasury received $256.4 million on the $259.6 million in aid it disbursed to nine banks in the Tri-Counties.

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Montecito Medical’s $54M buy raises stake for health properties

By   /  Friday, November 1st, 2013  /  Columns, Real Estate  /  Comments Off on Montecito Medical’s $54M buy raises stake for health properties

Montecito Medical Acquisition Co., a Santa Barbara-based real estate investment firm, has made one of its largest purchases to date, paying $54.6 million for the UCLA Outpatient Surgery and Oncology Center in Santa Monica. The firm now has about $170 million in assets, even after divesting some of the properties it purchased with its first fund between 2006 and 2008.

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Heritage buy sets stage to compete in big leagues

By   /  Friday, October 25th, 2013  /  Banking & Finance, Banking Industry, Central Coast, East Ventura County, South Coast, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy, West Ventura County  /  Comments Off on Heritage buy sets stage to compete in big leagues

With its $56.4 million purchase of another Central Coast bank, Heritage Oaks Bancorp lays the foundation to build the region’s next big community banking franchise and emerges as the dominant player in the market.

Paso Robles-based Heritage Oaks said Oct. 21 that it is buying Mission Community Bank, based in San Luis Obispo, in a cash-and-stock deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. The combined bank would have $1.5 billion in assets, making it the largest bank based in the Tri-Counties.

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Santa Barbara tourist hostel sells as developers eye lower State St.

By   /  Friday, October 25th, 2013  /  Columns, Real Estate, South Coast, Tourism  /  Comments Off on Santa Barbara tourist hostel sells as developers eye lower State St.

“We were drawn [to the property] by the proximity to the Amtrak station and lower State Street, but really the hostel is in its own class for budget-savvy kinds of travelers and international students,” said Jared Filippone, a vice president with Capitoline Properties, which recently purchased the hostel.

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Massive retail and apartment project in Goleta is under way

By   /  Friday, October 18th, 2013  /  Columns, Real Estate, South Coast, Tri-County Economy  /  Comments Off on Massive retail and apartment project in Goleta is under way

Developer Westar Associates has broken ground on Hollister Village, a mixed-use project in Goleta that will include 266 apartments and a shopping center.

After years in the planning process that included fierce opposition from some neighborhood activists, Costa Mesa-based Westar secured approvals for the project at Hollister Avenue and Glen Annie Road in October 2012.

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