••• Apartment update, pt. 1 (from Noozhawk): “The 82-unit apartment project proposed for the 700 block of Milpas Street [De La Guerra/Ortega] won favorable comments this week from members of the Santa Barbara Architectural Board of Review. […] The project is a four-story, mixed-use project on a 1.52-acre lot at 701 N. Milpas St. It would include 16 moderate-income units and 1,365 square feet of commercial space as well as 110 parking spaces.” That’s it in the rendering above.
••• Apartment update, part 2 (from Edhat): “Story poles are now up at the corner of Ortega and Chapala Streets mapping a proposed 39-unit apartment complex in downtown Santa Barbara. The former home of the Volkswagen Dealership at 630 Chapala Street is showcase poles up to four stories high across the street from the Paseo Nuevo parking garage and former Macy’s building. […] The project will return to Historic Landmark Commission for a decision regarding Project Design and Final approval.”
••• Dirt explains Oprah Winfrey’s recent real estate transactions in Montecito: “Because the property was never publicly offered for sale, details of what happened over the following 18 months are somewhat vague. But Winfrey appears to have split the former Shuman estate into two parts and sold each half to different buyers, both of them her friends. In mid-August, the two small cottages were sold for $2.3 million to Bob Greene, Winfrey’s longtime personal trainer and property manager. The following week, the Mediterranean main house went for nearly $14.8 million to actress Jennifer Aniston.” Love her.
••• Word is going around Montecito about a sophisticated burglary of a house near the San Ysidro Ranch—a team of thieves wearing earpieces is said to have used a ladder to access a second-floor window. (It’s being called a home invasion but I think that’s more apt for when a resident is actually on the premises.) Thanks to a neighbor, cops were already en route when the alarm got tripped, but the thieves got away.
••• “The former site of Zizzo’s on Storke Road soon will tranform into a Fuel Depot gas station, car wash and drive-through coffee shop establishment. The City of Goleta has approved the gas station, and construction on the site could begin in October or November [….] The gas station will be built where the car wash [currently] sits, and the car wash will move back deeper on the property.” —Noozhawk
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Properties never publicly offered for sale have individuals deciding the neighborhood.