Hotels versus housing — an ongoing battle with Santa Barbara residents stuck in the middle — continues.

Construction is underway for the church at 1915 Chapala St., as renovations will turn the church into a 37-unit hotel. 

The hotel is set to open at the end of 2025 and will keep much of the church’s original architecture, with the outside of the building set to stay true to its current design. There will be a variety of units, with some as studios, one bedroom, or two bedrooms, and every unit will have its own kitchenette.

Arvand Sabetian, the property owner and hotel developer, said the hotel is designed for people coming for an extended stay in Santa Barbara.

“There’s not a lot of lodging that’s recently been built that kind of caters to that,” Sabetian said. 

Demolition of the inside began in January after the project received approval from the Historic Landmarks Commission in July 2023. 

With the high cost of living, many residents are asking for fewer hotels and more housing throughout Santa Barbara.

“We’re in a housing crisis in this community, and housing is what we truly need,” Meagan Harmon, Santa Barbara city councilmember, said. “However, in areas that are zoned for hotel use, I have to and do respect the law and our zoning code, and it’s the right of the property owners to develop in accordance with those laws and codes.”

The hotel is in the district Harmon represents. Harmon said residents are asking for more housing in the downtown area that would allow people to live, eat, shop and work in one area without having to commute.

“I hear over and over again, we would love to see more housing downtown; downtown is where it should be,” Harmon said. “It’s where jobs are at, it means less vehicle miles traveled, it means easier commutes, it is only good to have more housing downtown.”

Harmon emphasized that she respects the zoning laws that allow hotel development but that she would encourage a community conversation about revising the codes.

“I believe we don’t need more hotels in the city,” Harmon said. “The answer is not to deny hotels on a project-by-project basis; the answer is to comprehensively review and revise the zoning codes such that it is not allowed in so many places.”

Sabetian, a real estate investor and tech enthusiast from the Bay Area, has developed a number of residential properties, and this isn’t his only hotel project in Santa Barbara.

Sabetian is also behind a 30-room self check-in hotel at 812 Garden St. Sabetian said the Garden Street hotel is about a year ahead of the Chapala Street hotel in development.

Sabetian said that when he looks at a site, he views it from a housing angle and a hotel angle to find the best idea for that property. He said 1915 Chapala St. wouldn’t work as residential housing and still retain the original architecture. 

“That building is not ideal for housing, it just wouldn’t have worked,” Sabetian said.  “There is a large parking lot; you could build over it, but we’re talking about what to do with this historical structure and what can you do with it to better serve both the city and the neighborhood. Having an empty building there, that’s not beneficial to anybody.”

The idea to have kitchenettes in the hotel units helps attract Santa Barbara visitors who may be staying for multiple weeks, taking pressure off the limited amount of short-term rentals in the area. 

“From my perspective, when you do kitchenettes inside the units you’re getting closer to housing anyways, because you can house people for a longer period of time,” Sabetian said. 

The outside of the building will stay true to its current architecture with a few changes including demolition of a center portion of the current roof to create an interior courtyard at the second floor, five of the existing windows will be demolished, and six new windows will be installed to match the existing windows, according to Heidi Reidel, city planner for the project. 

The hotel won’t have a restaurant or a space for large gatherings and is expected to have a minimal impact on the neighborhood. 

The church organization Way Collective was previously meeting in the Chapala Street church but has since moved to 2101 State St. in Santa Barbara.