$10M State Street Borders deal is a bright spot in a dull market
The $10 million sale of 900 State St. in Santa Barbara makes for the largest retail real estate deal in the city in more than two years, but the outlook for the South Coast’s commercial real estate market remains shaky. The 38,000-square-foot retail space where Borders bookstore is housed was sold on April 5 to Read More →
Read More →Novel plan may speed green building
A new way of financing energy efficiency upgrades in buildings is gathering steam across Santa Barbara County and headed for a vote by supervisors on April 13. Called emPowerSBC, the program allows property owners to borrow money from a funding pool set up by the county, install upgrades such as solar and pay off the Read More →
Read More →Recovery may mean the old is new again
Meet the new economy. Same as the old economy. It may just be that the rest of the country looks a lot more like the Tri-Counties as we bid farewell to the Great Recession. By that I mean slow growth, more government, a wider gap between haves and have-nots and a financial system that Read More →
Read More →Rice Mercado Depot project leads Santa Maria
In keeping with its push towards mixed-use, Santa Maria has plans in the works for a six-acre commercial, residential and manufacturing site at the northwest corner of Depot Street and Morrison Avenue. Developers say the ambitious Rice Depot Mercado project will be a mixed-use hub, drawing pedestrian residential traffic from the densely populated area around Read More →
Read More →Economists: coastal regions better than inland, but state faces exodus
Inland and coastal California might as well be two different worlds — at least that’s the view of California Lutheran University real estate economist Kirk Lesh. Lesh and the rest of CLU’s forecasting team presented their first economic prophecies for the new year at a March 24 event at the Thousand Oaks campus. Lesh Read More →
Read More →Remembering Fess Parker, businessman
The first time I asked Fess Parker to keynote the Business Times’ Spirit of Small Business Awards, his office had a polite reply: “Thanks, but no thanks.” A year later, I tried again. I called his office around noontime and got no farther than an assistant who said she was going to lunch. “Try back Read More →
Read More →Cottage Hospital looks local for Goleta design inspiration
When it wanted to bring a more hometown feel to its new Goleta facility, Cottage Hospital brought in a team of local designers. Cottage Hospital broke ground March 11 on its new 52-bed acute care Goleta Valley facility. The 52,000-square-foot, two-story building, which will cost an estimated $103 million, is expected to be complete in Read More →
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