It’s the end of the road for Ed St. George in Santa Barbara.

The developer recently sold his half of the 82-unit apartment project at 711 N. Milpas St., and now full ownership is under the owners of Capitol Hardware, Alan Bleecker, and his brother-in-law, Jay Bjorndahl.

“We amicably decided to dissolve that relationship and move on,” Bleecker told Noozhawk. “We decided that we wanted to do it ourselves and not have him in the deal anymore. It didn’t seem to be a fit for us.”

The trio had planned to build a four-story, 82-apartment project at the site of Bleecker’s hardware store. The City of Santa Barbara and the trio came up with a development agreement to build the apartments to help address the housing crisis in the community and the Eastside.

St. George was at the front of that public crusade, but he told Noozhawk on Monday that he is “done” with Santa Barbara.

“It’s just not my town anymore,” St. George said.

He said he is selling his development projects and “abandoning” projects on the Westside and Eastside, adding that one of them was for 99 units.

Bleecker said he is unsure what is next for the 711 N. Milpas St. development. It was part of a legacy project to honor his father-in-law, and they also wants to build it to leave something for their children.

“In the current financial climate, we are looking at all options,” Bleecker said. “There are people who are interested in and have always been interested in it.”

The project has already been approved and entitled. Although some permits are still needed, the development is essentially “shovel-ready” for an entity that has the financing to purchase.

“There are many, many options open to us, and we are going to explore everything that makes the most sense for us,” Bleecker said.

He did say, however, that “things have changed over the past years with interest rates and construction costs.”

Bleecker said the project was approved for 16 below-market-rate units, about 20% of the total. The city’s inclusionary housing ordinance requires only 10% below-market rate. He hopes that the below-market-rate units will be set aside for police officers and teachers.

He said affordability is important to him, which is why he is building more affordable units than the minimum.

“We have a housing crisis,” Bleecker said. “It’s really important to me to have some affordability portion of this project to help answer the community’s issues.”

St. George said he spent millions of dollars working to get the project at 711 N. Milpas St. approved. His decision to sell his interest in the development comes as he has reduced his profile in Santa Barbara to focus on development in the North County. He said activist City Council members are “turning Santa Barbara into San Francisco.”

“I don’t see how any developers are going to be able to come in and build housing,” St. George said. “You have a City Council that is unfriendly to housing developers.”

St. George and Associates owns several rental housing complexes in Santa Barbara, including Beach City and San Andres Street units catering to college students. The company also owns and manages housing rentals in Isla Vista.

Milpas Corridor Housing Projects

The Milpas Street corridor has several other housing projects in the development pipeline.

Developers want to build a 90-unit apartment project on two parcels, at 418 N. Milpas St. and 915-923 E. Gutierrez St. The project would involve the demolition of eight senior units. Several neighbors have opposed the project, saying it is too large for the area.

That project is still working its way through the planning process.

Near the ocean, developers plan to build housing on the Tri-County Produce property.

The longtime grocery store is closing this month after owner John Dixon announced his retirement.