We all know about the housing crisis.

Apparently, Santa Barbara also has a storage crisis.

A new development proposed for 102 W. De la Guerra St. seeks to combine both community needs into one.

“Self-storage in Santa Barbara is in high demand, and there is a severe undersupply,” said architect Brian Cearnal, a partner at the Cearnal Collective. “Accessory Dwelling Unit garage conversions are creating housing without replacing storage. The development of housing across the street at Paseo Nuevo and elsewhere will only increase demand.”

The developer, Greg Reitz, proposes a five-story, 40-unit apartment building that would front De la Guerra Street. The apartments are proposed to reach 60 feet and go on top of a 77-space asphalt parking lot.

A four-story storage building is proposed to be built behind the apartments and reach 45 feet. It would “integrate” into the existing three-story commercial office building, built in 1927, at 101 W. Canon Perdido and Chapala streets, formerly the General Telephone Co. The storage site, according to Cearnal, has environmental toxins in the ground, so it cannot be used for housing.

“The self-storage facility will be operated in concert with new self-storage units that
will be integrated into the historic telephone building,” according to the project description. “This use is the only one that realistically can be implemented for adaptive reuse in this existing building because residential is not allowed due to environmental/toxic issues and office use is simply not viable.”

The project is scheduled to go before the city’s Architectural Board of Review for a pre-application consultation at 3 p.m. Tuesday in the David Gebhard Public Meeting Room, 630 Garden St.

The apartments would all be studios with an average size of 401 square feet. Two of the units would be set aside for low-income tenants and four would go toward individuals with moderate incomes.

“We have blended the two uses and placed the housing facing De la Guerra and the storage behind in the midblock,” Cearnal said.

He said he didn’t want to create an eyesore, so the idea is to make the building mass “a living green wall that actually helps keep the building cool and is good for the planet.”

The project also would be intended to help subsidize renovation of the historic General Telephone building next door.

Reitz, a principal at REthink Development, said he is excited about developing the project because it would help serve the needs of many in the community.

“It will enable the renovation and reuse of the historic telephone building in El Pueblo Viejo, deliver small workforce apartments that will be more affordable than any other new project in downtown, and add badly needed, convenient self-storage for downtown residents,” he said.

Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Meagan Harmon said she is still learning about the project but is hopeful about the housing opportunities.

“I am always hopeful when I see a housing development proposed within our priority housing overlay — an area where units are most needed and certainly very appropriate,” said Harmon, whose district includes the project. “The storage component, making productive use of land that cannot be converted into residential use, is an interesting idea as well, and a new twist on the concept of ‘adaptive reuse.’

“I’m looking forward to learning more, and I will be watching the hearing with interest.”