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Italian ice is here.
All the way from the New York buroughs, Robert Mangione has opened Mangione’s Italian Ice at 1222 State St. in Santa Barbara.
“I felt like this was a wonderful opportunity here,” Mangione said. “There weren’t already five versions of it.”
Unlike ice cream, Italian ice can be either water based or dairy based, and Mangione offers both. The water-based treats include flavors such as mango, cherry, lemon, strawberry and watermelon. The dairy-based flavors consist of chocolate, banana, espresso, vanilla chip and others.
Mangione said he developed a passion for Italian ice in New York. He and his twin brother would travel a few miles to the Lemon Ice King of Corona in Queens.
He eventually would hook up with a man named John Russo, who owned an Italian ice company called Luigi’s. Mangione bought the recipes and brought the concept to Santa Barbara.
“They don’t have Italian ice in California,” Mangione said. “In Santa Barbara, they have never been exposed to it. They default to ice cream.”
He noted that Italian ice is not ice cream and it’s not Hawaiian shave ice. He didn’t want to compete with the many ice cream places around town. Mangione, who also owns a home cleaning services company, has been revving to open up, but was slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mangione encourages people to come in to try the dessert, which is fairly healthy compared to dairy alternatives.
“We are going to have fun with it,” he said.
Vegan Market in Montecito Closing
Plnt Pwrd Mrkt, the store that lacked animal products and vowels, is shutting down in June after a six-month stint on Coast Village Road.
The company put out a message on Instagram a few days ago: “Store Closing — we want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts who came in and supported our crazy idea. We have loved meeting you and hopefully sharing some new products with you as well. A HUGE thank you to our team. You gave the store life and personality and we will miss you the most.”
The message noted that the store will be open through June 3 and that everything in the vegan store is 25% off.
“We set out to share new fun products in the plant-based market with our community and will cherish the conversation and interactions we had with you all and have enjoyed seeing a handful of our products pop up around town,” the message stated.
Owner Tim Morton-Smith told Noozhawk: “We had a short-term lease to try to get to turning a profit and couldn’t quite get there. We opened it with the idea of it being a pop-up with the hopes it would be long term, but couldn’t get there.”
AppFolio Building Sells
An investor purchased one of AppFolio’s three buildings at its headquarters campus, 50 Castilian Drive in Goleta, for $13.9 million.
According to Hayes Commercial Group, the building is leased by AppFolio with more than 10 years of term remaining.
The seller was a joint venture by Shopoff Realty Investments (“Shopoff”), Praelium Commercial Real Estate (“Praelium”) and Blackbird Investment Group (“Blackbird”). Representing the seller were Sean Fulp and Matt Berres of Newmark and Steve Hayes and Francois DeJohn of Hayes Commercial Group.
The joint venture purchased the entire campus — 165,905 square feet of creative office on 10.82 acres — in December 2020. By dividing the asset into three buildings and then presenting them for sale separately from the land, the ownership was able to position the offering at a lower price point and reach a larger pool of potential buyers. The other two buildings at 70 and 90 Castilian Drive are still for sale, according to Hayes.
Chipotle Opening Drive-Thru in Santa Maria
Chipotle Mexican Grill in Santa Maria will open Friday at its new location, 467 E. Betteravia Road.
With its drive-thru, customers will be able to pick up digital orders without leaving their cars.
The restaurant will be open from 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. On Friday, the first 50 people in line will receive complimentary Chipotle Goods merchandise, and guests who sign up for Chipotle Rewards will receive free chips and guacamole after their first purchase, according to a news release.
The company is also hiring.
Tamara Skov Hired at Quinn Fiduciary Services
Former health care executive and nonprofit manager Tamara Skov has joined local estate management firm Quinn Fiduciary Services as an associate fiduciary, according to a news release.
Skov has worked extensively in nonprofit management and charitable gift planning. She served as executive director of the Santa Barbara-based VNA Health Foundation, director of development of Sansum Clinic and director of contributor services for United Way of Santa Barbara County.
She also worked as a Realtor specializing in helping seniors explore options for aging gracefully, including aging at home, relocating near family or moving to retirement communities, according to a news release.
She has a fiduciary license and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of California, Davis.
Hotel Bed Tax on the Rise
Santa Barbara collected $3 million in transient occupancy taxes for April, about $893,000 above April collections the year prior.
Revenues are 52% higher than before the pandemic in 2019, but daily hotel rates are 51% higher than April 2019, according to a City of Santa Barbara news release.
The city has collected $25.7 million through April, and the projected budget for the year was $23.4 million.
— 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.