More than four years after the City of Santa Barbara first approved a development agreement, the 82-unit apartment project slated for Milpas Street is finally moving forward.

The Santa Barbara Architectural Board of Review gave final design approval recently to the project, which will replace the Capital Hardware Building at 701 N. Milpas St.

Board member Richard Six, who had long been one of the project’s biggest design critics over mass, bulk and scale, threw in the towel on his opposition.

“My voting records shows I have issues with the overall mass, bulk and scale, and I have voted no on many occasions,” Six said. “But it’s ready for final, and I will behave myself here.”

Developer Ed St. George and two business partners, Jay Bjorndahl and Alan Bleecker, 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.

The team won project design approval in January, but made some aesthetic changes since then and needed to return to the board a few times to get approval on the changes.

The Spanish Mediterranean building includes 82 apartments, 16 of which would be moderate-income affordable units. The height of the building would mostly be between 45 and 48 feet, with some sections as tall as 52 feet. Plans call for 110 parking spaces.

The project has sparked community attention because when approved it was one of the first large apartment developments under the average unit-sized density incentive program. It was envisioned to transform Milpas Street, which serves the surrounding working-class neighborhood.

Although the project would provide housing, the development irked some for its size, which would reach 52 feet. Santa Barbara has a 45-foot height limit for residential buildings, unless a majority of the council grants and height exemption for community benefit, which it did in this case.

By the time the May 30 hearing came, the ABR members were ready to relinquish opposition and support the aesthetic changes with a 6-0 vote.

“They addressed concerns,” board president Kevin Moore said.

“Everything we asked they responded to,” board member Lauren Anderson said.

Six added: “I can’t hold this up for minutiae,” he said. “That’s not fair.”

For developer St. George, it’s a bittersweet moment.

“It’s very unfortunate it has taken so long to gain approval from the ABR for this project,” he told Noozhawk. “For 99.9 % of the people, there is no discernible difference between what was approved versus what we initially proposed two years ago.”

St. George said design approval needs to move faster in this community.

“All that has been accomplished is this much-needed housing being needlessly delayed, so I do not see this as a victory for the Santa Barbara community,” St. George said.

He said demolition and the construction could begin in the next two months “if the city building department issues permits soon,” but if not by next spring.