The site of the former Volkswagen dealership in downtown Santa Barbara is shifting gears.
The family owners of the property at 630 Chapala St. want to build 39 apartments in a three- and four-story structure at the southeast corner of West Ortega Street, across from the Paseo Nuevo parking garage.
“This is a family project and we are all excited to be custodians of this exciting venture,” said Tom Meaney, an architect whose grandfather founded the original car dealership at the site in 1958. The VW dealership closed in 2017.
The project went before the city’s Historic Landmarks Commission on Wednesday for a concept review. The proposal calls for the demolition of the existing structures with the exception of one building, the showroom, to build the multistory, mixed-use complex.
A Community Benefit Height Exception from the Planning Commission is required to allow the proposed 52-foot-11-inch-tall structure to exceed 45 feet in height. The project also contains a rooftoop court in place of open space on the ground.
The Historic Landmarks Commission gave the project mostly positive reviews, but members expressed a desire for some changes.
The project is proposed under Santa Barbara’s average unit-sized density incentive program, and fits with the city’s overall goal of building more housing downtown. Plans call for 35 of the units to be rented at market rate with the other four rented at below-market rate under the city’s inclusionary housing program.
“Generally speaking, I like the architecture,” commissioner Bill Mahan said. “It feels like very good Santa Barbara architecture. It reminds me a bit of the Lobero Building in terms of its orderliness.”
But he expressed concerns about neighborhood compatibility, and whether Chapala Street is becoming “canyonized” with tall buildings.
“Neighborhood compatibility does not mean that because the Macy’s building across the street is tall, and your being compatible with that, that makes everything OK,” said Mahan, who suggested compatibility with El Pueblo Viejo is a better standard.
Commissioner Steve Hausz said the building’s windows need some “poetry,” with more composition and less mathematical precision.
“Otherwise it ends up looking more like a hotel,” he said.
Hausz observed that a portion of the building on the right side facing Chapala Street looks like a “happy face.”
“I think that really needs work,” he said.
The building’s ground floor is 11 feet tall and upper stories are 10 feet tall, which prompted Hausz to suggest that the ceiling heights may need to be lowered.
“I am not convinced that 10-foot ceilings are a necessity, and anything you could do to reduce the overall height of the building will be a benefit,” he said.
Commissioner Robert Ooley also suggested that the upper-floor ceiling heights be reduced to 9 feet, 6 inches, to shrink the mass of the building.
“I don’t think it really harms your massing,” he said. “You and I will know the difference, but I think the common man walking down the street won’t notice the difference.”
The project will next go to the Planning Commission for consideration of the height exception.
— 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.
