Local Businesses Jump Ahead of State Street Master Plan with New Remodels
SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. (KEYT) - The recently released drawings of State Street that could be the guideline for the new master plan for downtown Santa Barbara is just one check on the long road to redesign.
It is said to be the centerpiece for the downtown economy and it has been struggling for several years.
To some analysts, it started a few years before the pandemic, due to some shifts in the buying habits of shoppers online.
Now there is a move for some investors and business owners to go forward even without a city plan. They see an opportunity and believe it will work.
The list is a cross section of retail, restaurants and the arts.
The Music Academy of the West has plans to begin remodeling its new site at 901 State St. later this year and begin to make a performance and teaching center out of the former retail and banking location.
Across the street, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival McHurley Film Center has opened with five screens and is about to reveal its new marquee.
Next door, the Game Seeker, which opened last year in a new site, has used its interior for more games and also tables for customers to try some out.
Sandbar closed last year and has remodeled the interior. It will be open in June and plans to capture local residents and hungry tourists where it is located in the gateway section to downtown.
At the Amazon building on Carrillo and State, the food plan near the front door will now include Silvergreens, Handlebar Coffee and Renaud's Patisserie & Bistro.
The closed Chase Restaurant, recovering from a fire has now reopened with inside and outside seating at the classic location in the 1000 block.
The Blue Owl on Canon Perdido St. says even though it had to remove its outside parklet due to new city rules, it is getting a new one designed and approved by the review agencies to go in as soon as possible. That will add about 25 more seats to the small restaurant which also has entertainment at night.
The former Starbucks on the corner of State and Victoria has had a for lease sign up, and now it is down, but the new tenant has not been announced.
The Antique Alley is showing a for sale sign on its building at State and Ortega St.
Across the street, Noozhawk reports the closed Macy's department store building is now being considered by Yardi Systems of Goleta as a new location. It is part of a moving planning process for the city to work with the owners on filling that vacant space and also the Nordstroms empty building on the Canon Perdido St. at Carrillo side of the Paseo Nuevo Mall, which may become housing units.
(More details, photos and video will be added here later today.)
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