••• The Santa Barbara Public Market has been “sold for $7.65 million and the [adjacent] vacant commercial condo at 28 W. Victoria St. sold for $2.25 million. A liquor license was transferred with the sale, so the grand total of the investment was more than $10 million.” The buyers are a “family partnership [consisting] of Ralph Alastair Winn and his wife, Ann Winn, as well as Travis Twining and his wife, Amanda Twining, and their 16-year-old daughter. […] The new owners plan to fill the vacant spots with what the community wants, so it can be ‘more of a community meeting place rather than your standard market,’ Twining said. […] The 28 W. Victoria St. property is an empty shell for now, but the new ownership has concept ideas that feature a ‘fun atmosphere.'” I’d love nothing more than to see the Public Market come back to life; on a recent visit, there seemed to be nearly as many vacant stalls as occupied ones. The challenge, however, is that the space lacks the light and air that make Santa Barbara so appealing. —Pacific Coast Business Times
••• The Independent lays out the case that YouTube personality Trevor Jacob intentionally crashed a plane near New Cuyama.
••• “City Hall’s $8.5 million grant application to give Ortega Park a bells-and-whistles makeover was not approved by the state agency, leaving plans for the embattled Eastside park in limbo.” —Independent
••• “All students and staff in the Santa Barbara Unified School District will be required to get tested for Covid-19 beginning Monday, according to the district, and all extracurricular events and sports will be suspended until further notice due to the increase in novel coronavirus cases in the community.” —Noozhawk
••• Old trolley tracks at Garden and Pedregosa were uncovered during the desal-pipeline project. —Edhat
••• Acme Hospitality (The Lark, Loquita, et al) is opening a hotel in Palm Springs called Azure Sky and a restaurant in San Juan Capistrano. —Nation’s Restaurant News
••• “The California Supreme Court ruled unanimously this week that Presbyterian Camp and Conference Centers, the company that owns and operates the mountaintop Rancho La Scherpa retreat center, is financially liable for the 2016 Sherpa Fire that burned nearly 7,500 acres of the Gaviota Coast. The ruling allows Cal Fire to recoup $12.2 million in firefighting costs from PCCC and affirms the legal precedent that a private corporation can be held legally responsible for the expense of suppressing and investigating wildfires that were negligently started by their employees.” —Independent
••• “Dos Pueblos Ranch, one of Santa Barbara County’s most historic ranches, was just sold to the family of Roger Himovitz for an as-yet-undisclosed sum”—$25.5 million, from what I can tell—”by its longtime owners, the Schulte family. The 214-acre property, which spreads along the Gaviota Coast on the ocean side of the freeway, will be operated by the Dos Pueblos Institute as an outdoor classroom teaching sustainable agriculture and as a site for Chumash bands to use for ceremonies.” —Independent
················
Sign up for the Siteline email newsletter and you’ll never miss a post.
Comment: