California’s oldest law firm, Price, Postel & Parma LLP, has renewed its lease for 15 years in the four-story Freitas Building at 200 E. Carrillo St. in Santa Barbara.

The Freitas Building is one of the premier downtown office buildings, located at the corner of Carrillo and Santa Barbara streets and under continual ownership by the Freitas family for more than 30 years.

The firm will continue to occupy the entire fourth floor and a suite on the third floor totaling 14,235 square feet of office space.

In terms of square footage, it’s the fifth-largest Santa Barbara office lease of the year, a year that so far has featured a spate of large office leases downtown. For context, downtown Santa Barbara has seen 11 office leases larger than 14,000 square feet signed in the past five years, and five of those leases have been completed in the past six months.

Francois DeJohn and Steve Hayes of Hayes Commercial Group represented Price, Postel & Parma, while Greg Bartholomew of Hayes Commercial Group and Jerry Beaver of Pacifica Commercial Realty represented the landlord, Joe A. Freitas & Sons.

“This was not a typical lease renewal,” Bartholomew said. “The parties were in negotiation over the course of two years. In the end, the landlord agreed to perform substantial upgrades to the common areas and other features of the building, while the tenant will provide extensive improvements to the premises to address changes in law practice over the years. Both parties will benefit from the arrangement.”

“The Freitas Building has been an excellent location for Price, Postel & Parma for many years, and the firm was committed to staying in the downtown business district and near the courthouse, so we were glad to negotiate a lease that allowed them to do so,” DeJohn said.

Price, Postel & Parma traces its lineage back to 1852, making it Santa Barbara’s oldest continuous business and California’s oldest law firm. Drawing on this rich tradition, the firm’s diversified practice areas serve businesses, institutions and individual clients throughout the Tri-Counties and beyond.

Largest Santa Barbara Office Leases, 2011

» 610 Anacapa St., Antioch University, 31,429 square feet
» 402 E. Gutierrez St., RightScale Inc., 26,339
» 801 Garden St., Sonos Inc., 19,983
» 136 W. Canon Perdido St., Tempest Telecom, 18,054
» 200 E. Carrillo St., Price, Postel & Parma LLP, 14,235

— Ted Hoagland is the marketing manager for Hayes Commercial Group.