Developers ‘at one-yard line’ to begin construction on first of several downtown Santa Maria housing projects
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Developers have moved close to finally beginning construction on the first of several long-planned downtown Santa Maria revitalization housing projects.
"We're pretty much at the one-yard line," said Brett Vernon, The Vernon Group President, speaking about the proposed Heritage Walk Lofts apartment building. "We almost have everything lined up. We should be getting a permit very shortly. We have a lot of interest from different capital partners and different banks that are that are interested in financing this. Santa Maria is is not a primary market, so when we kind of show them Santa Maria and talk about the kind of potential and opportunity in Santa Maria, a lot of banks have been getting really excited, too."
The multi-story Heritage Walk Lofts project is located in Santa Maria Town Center West in the well-known building that formerly housed Mervyn's and Fallas department stores.
Santa Barbara-based The Vernon Group has worked for several year to convert the structure into a new housing development.
"It's strictly residential," said Vernon. "The idea is it's going to be the first piece that we see moving downtown. Hopefully, it brings a little bit of excitement and starts building around that. We do plan to ultimately to start designing Lot One, which is the lot to the north of of of Heritage, kind of south of the old Boot Barn, north of Heritage and that is a little bit more of the retail commercial and the active area and that's planning to come in Phase Two."
Vernon believes should everything line up over the new few weeks, construction on Heritage Walk Lofts could begin within a couple of months.
In addition to Heritage Walk Lofts, The Vernon Group has also proposed through the past few years a handful of other high-rise residential developments on the corner of Broadway and Main Street.
The Alvin Newton Apartments are planned for the lot next door to Bank of America, which is located adjacent to the Santa Maria Town Center mall.
Like Heritage Walk Lofts, the Alvin Newton Apartments project is also moving very close to beginning construction, but still needs to clear a few final obstacles before work can begin.
"It's in the third iteration of plan check," said Vernon. "We are, we're running into some issues, you know, we we the city really wanted some ground floor retail. That is something that is is kind of hindering the project as far as financing goes and the way the banks are looking at it, is they kind of look at that bottom floor like, hey, you're not really going to get any income here, even though we will, so essentially it's become a little bit more of a challenging financial hurdle for us. We are kind of looking at different options we can do possibly going like live-work on the ground floor to make it so that we have the opportunity to have residential to make the financing look more attractive, but even without that, it's still a very attractive project. We've raised and and invested a significant amount of money and we're hoping to be breaking ground on that a month or two behind Heritage Walk Lofts."
A third proposed project is the Perlman Apartments, an affordable housing development that would be located directly across the street from the Alvin Newton Apartments on the site that is the current home of Perlman Park.
Another residential project called Crossroads would be build catty-corner from the Perlman Apartments on the lot that formerly was the site of Boot Barn.
"It's no secret that housing is a strong need throughout Santa Barbara County and in Santa Maria, these will answer a significant need for our community and providing new housing options for local individuals, for families, creating a new environment for young professionals and families alike," said Chenin Dow, Santa Maria Community Development Director. "Here in the downtown area, these will be walkable and have commercial opportunities. We also have a new grocery store coming in so that people can walk to the grocery store, or walk to a restaurant and hopefully walk to their jobs as well. This will create a thriving area in the heart of the downtown so that it will strengthen our community."
The Alvin Newton, Perlman and Crossroads developments would all built and located at the intersection of Broadway and Main Street, which is the heart of downtown Santa Maria.
"This is an incredible opportunity to truly transform the heart of Santa Maria," said Dow. "This is a great partnership between the city and the private sector to help build great new things for our community and new amenities for our residents to enjoy. We're very much looking forward to the results."
Vernon, who has been working on the Heritage Walk Lofts for five years, is eager to get construction going on the project and kick off what will a years-long effort to complete all of the various developments.
"We are so excited," said Vernon. "We cannot wait to break ground. It just takes a long time. We have to work with a whole bunch of different consultants. There's different entities that are involved, like Caltrans and the city and just different agencies, so it's a lot of coordination for us. Obviously, it takes a lot of time. We're just super excited to get this thing going. I think when we finally break ground, it's going to be this kind of like relief since we've been working at this thing for five years and we're finally seeing something."
Vernon added construction on each project should last around two years.
