Former Macy’s building in Paseo Nuevo to become office space
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - After Macy's left Downtown Santa Barbara four years ago, many residents wondered what would become of the 132,500-square-foot building on the corner of Paseo Nuevo.
Finally, owners Pacific Retail Capital Partners announced Monday that the structure will be reinvented as office space under the new name "Ortega Building."
The three-story structure is set to provide the largest office floor plates in the downtown area with more than 40,000-square-feet available on each level and half-floor suites possible in the 20,000-square-foot range.
Greg Bartholomew, Francois DeJohn and Steve Hayes of Hayes Commercial Group will market the office space on behalf of Pacific Retail. The ground floor is simultaneously being marketed to retail, restaurant and grocery tenants with the building expected to accommodate a mix of commercial uses.
Tenants will also be able to rent parking spaces on site in the Paseo Nuevo garage.
“Downtown Santa Barbara has become a focal point for tech tenants during the past ten years,” Bartholomew said, “with companies like Amazon, Honey, Sonos, and Invoca leasing large office spaces along the State Street corridor.”
“Frankly, there aren’t a lot of tenants in our area looking for 20,000 or 40,000 square feet of office,” DeJohn said, “so we are marketing to companies in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and beyond to consider adding an office location in Santa Barbara.”
Macy's occupied the structure at 701 State Street since it was first built in the early 1990s. The store ultimately closed its doors in 2017.
Pacific Retail, which already owned most of the center, acquired the vacant building in 2018.
There has since been an interest in turning the building into residential units, but Pacific Retail’s architects determined the Ortega Building is not suitable for conversion to apartments or condos.
“This is an exciting project to work on because there is nothing like it on the South Coast,” Hayes said. “It has the potential to infuse significant business energy and a bunch of high-quality jobs into the center of downtown, which will benefit the community.”
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