The corner of State and Arrellaga streets in Santa Barbara, the site of the Isla Vista Food Co-op and formerly Cantwell’s Market & Deli, is on its way to becoming a four-story apartment and commercial project.

The Santa Barbara Historic Landmarks Commission voted 6-1 on Wednesday to grant final design approval for the project.

The plan calls for 27 units, with three offered at below-market rates at an average of 791 square feet. The apartments will be a mix of one- and two-bedroom units on the second, third and fourth floors.

The bottom floor will consist of a commercial shop, most likely the Isla Vista Food Co-op, which would return once construction is complete. Parking will be on the first floor and at the basement level.

“This is a really nicely done project,” Commissioner Cass Ensberg said.

Ensberg complimented the design, saying that the four stories step back and down to address the lower scale of the neighborhood with the highest portions facing the street and the corner of State and Arrellaga streets.

“I think this will be an improvement for State Street,” Ensberg said.

Former Santa Barbara Mayor Sheila Lodge now serves on the Historic Landmarks Commission. She said she appreciates elements of the design.

“This is big, the building on the corner is big, but that is what we are going to be seeing more of, I think,” Lodge said.

Commissioner Dennis Doordan said that although the project is large for the site, it is just part of the wave of the future with the current pressures from the State of California for government entities to build housing.

“We will see situations like this in the future more and more,” Doordan said.

Nearby property owner Kersten Corson objected to the project.

“I am still blown away by that four-story cube with some pretty wrought iron on it that you are putting on the corner of Arrellaga and State streets,” Corson said at the meeting. “It is still historically wrong for this neighborhood.”

She said the area is made up of one- and two-story buildings and that it should stay that way.

“It is just a massive cube that people will live in,” Corson said.

Jay Blatter, a principal at Hochhauser Blatter Associates Architecture & Planning, designed the development on behalf of property owner Pradeep Shastri.

The site, at 1533 Arrellaga St., was the longtime site of Cantwell’s Market & Deli before it was acquired by the Isla Vista Co-op in early 2024.