An 82-unit housing project on Santa Barbara’s Lower Eastside passed a significant hurdle Monday night, winning project design approval from the Architectural Board of Review.

Developer Ed St. George and two business partners are behind the complex at 701 N. Milpas St., at East Ortega Street and adjacent to the eastern edge of the Santa Barbara Junior High School campus.

“In general, this is a good step forward with the design,” board chairman Kevin Moore told the applicants.

“On the Milpas Street elevation, what you have done is successful. I think you have come a long way.”

St. George and the City of Santa Barbara have a development agreement, approved in 2021, so now he is working his way through the design process.

The proposal for the Spanish Mediterranean building includes 82 apartments, 16 of which would be moderate-income affordable units. The height of the building is mostly between 45 and 48 feet, with some sections as tall as 52 feet.

Plans call for 110 parking spaces.

Architectural Board of Review members expressed positive comments Monday, but fussed over a few design elements.

The board wants the developers — St. George and Alan Bleecker and Jay Bjorndahl, who joined forces with him in 2021 — to better integrate the solar carport with the building, enhance landscaping on one side, and tinker with the tiles under the windows.

Once built, the project would be the first major apartment development on Milpas Street, a neighborhood that the city has targeted for high-density housing. State law requires the city to zone areas for housing to accommodate about 8,000 new units by 2031.

St. George said the development eventually will be the nicest housing project in Santa Barbara.

“Tonight was a huge night for the project,” he told Noozhawk. “This was a huge intersection to cross.”

Although he said the project has “been through the ringer,” he’s pleased with where things stand.

“They did what was right for the community,” St. George said of the board.