Thirty-four new apartments may be coming to downtown Santa Barbara.
The city’s Historic Landmarks Commission on Wednesday will get a look at the proposed high-density housing project at 222 E. Canon Perdido St.
It’s a second bite of the apple for the developer and architect, who previously proposed a 7-unit condominium project at the site, but have since decided to build 34 apartments.
Buddha Homes is working with the architectural firm of Cearnal Collective on the project. As proposed, the development would get built on a parking lot, next to a three-story commercial building.
The project first went before the commission in March of 2021 as a condo project.
“While the original concept was aligned with meeting housing goals — new ownership units are needed as part of increasing the City’s housing stock — this revised project results in a greater number of units, and also proposes development on an infill site on an existing surface parking lot,” said Trish Allen, senior planner for Suzanne Elledge Planning and Permitting Services.
The new project calls for a 3- and 4-story apartment building, reaching nearly 47 feet. The units would consist of 20 studios, 13 one-bedrooms, and one two-bedroom.
A puzzle lift system that stacks 19 parking spaces is proposed inside a garage in the parking lot. Six surface parking spaces would remain, including two electric vehicle stalls. The previous proposal contained 33 parking spaces
Four other stacked parking lifts exist in Santa Barbara. With a parking lift system, cars are stacked through mechanical lifts on top of each other.
The commercial office building will not be altered. The previous proposal consisted of six two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit, and reached about 39 feet tall.
“The architecture will meet the design criteria for development in El Pueblo Viejo, and as a result of the lot configuration, and the building massing will be set back from the street, compatible with the massing of surrounding structures,” Allen said.
The meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the David Gebhard Room, 630 Garden St.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
