The Santa Barbara Unified School District is finally poised to buy the National Guard Armory for $11.6 million.
The purchase, scheduled for a final school board vote Tuesday, comes after more than a decade of talks, false starts and failed negotiations with the state.
The state Department of General Service set the price at $11.6 million as part of a broader California effort to shed unused armories to save money, including the one at 700 E. Canon Perdido St.
“In Santa Barbara, I bet there’s not a single piece of property that you could buy that is a full city block anymore,” Superintendent Cary Matsuoka said at last week’s school board meeting. “It is really an opportunity of a lifetime in this community.”
He added that the acquisition has been “a 25-year conversation for Santa Barbara, and we get to be part of closing the deal.”
The site, which Matsuoka called “an amazing piece of property,” is nestled between Santa Barbara High School and Santa Barbara Junior High.
Education and community activists have long envisioned using the facility for educational purposes, and one idea is to use it as a technical training center for K-14 students in partnership with Santa Barbara City College. Matsuoka suggested reaching out to California State University-Channel Islands since so many SBCC students transfer there.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill in 2016 giving local agencies, including school districts, first option at purchasing the armory properties the state was selling, and Santa Barbara Unified jumped at the chance.
Local voters approved the Measure I school bond measure that year, and the Board of Education’s funding priority list included purchasing and upgrading the armory property into an educational facility.
The property sits on 4.7 acres, and the 27,000-square-foot building was designated a city landmark in 1998.
Once the deal is finalized with a vote, the district plans to embark on a master plan process, working with the community to determine the best use for the site.
“Many previous school boards and superintendents have attempted to acquire the National Guard Armory, but you have the distinction of having succeeded,” Lanny Ebenstein told the school board at last week’s meeting. Ebenstein has been one of the most determined activists pushing the district to purchase the property.
He said the $11.6 million price tag is “a reasonable and a fair figure. I think that the long-term use of the site for the community will be exceptional.”
Given the age of the building and site issues — including soil liquefaction, lead dust and structural problems — the district will have to spend millions more before students can use the property.
Still, the district sees it as a major investment.
Board member Laura Capps called it “a downpayment on the future.”
“We will control the future destiny for that important piece of property,” Matsuoka said. “If it went to the open market, who knows who would buy it, who knows what the use would be? It could be commercial. It could be residential. This way, we will ensure that it will stay in the public agency’s hands as we develop it for the community.”
Longest-serving board member Kate Parker said she will be happy to see the deal finalized about the time she leaves the board, as she is not running for re-election in November.
“I want to thank the members of the community who have fought for this for decades,” Parker said. “This will be a community treasure that will benefit the entire South Coast.”
— 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.
