Developer Peter Lewis cashed out.
The prominent, well-connected Santa Barbara developer explains why he sold his 81-unit Soltara Apartments and Staples and Reid’s Appliances buildings to UC Santa Barbara.
Lewis is a guest in the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina.
“I built this under the assumption that I was keeping it,” Lewis said. “I was not intending to build it and them immediately sell it to somebody. Like many things, you don’t always know how things end up transpiring.”
Lewis said he had coffee with Javier Rivera, director of real estate service for UCSB, and the discussion bloomed into a sale.
The two started by talking about ways to increase the housing stock in the region.
“From that, Javier asked me would I be open to UCSB making an offer for the building, and frankly I was a little bit like you, I was like ‘whoa,’ OK,'” Lewis said. “I wasn’t expecting that. That just opened the door for me thinking about what that would look like.”
Lewis said he was impressed with Rivera’s “entrepreneurial vision.”
The move means that UCSB employees will live downtown, which delivers a boost to efforts to revitalize the downtown area. The sale also includes the former Staples building, which is now occupied by Reality Church, and the Reid’s Appliances store, on the corner of Anacapa and Gutierrez streets.
Soltara Apartments opened over the summer and it is about 65% occupied. Lewis had intended to lease all of the units, but he stopped once the conversations with UCSB started in October, he said. All of the current tenants are on one-year leases. Rents for the downtown building go from about $2,700 a month for a moderate-income studio to $6,500 for a two-bedroom apartment.
Lewis also said that the reality is that downtown will never be a place for affordable housing.
“Basically, naturally, it’s a huge impediment for the production of housing,” Lewis said. “We have less housing as a result. It’s a little ironic, isn’t it? The political desire to demand and extract affordable production out of the market developer results in less housing being built.”
Toward the end of the podcast, Lewis explains what’s happening with the Cost Plus World Market, at 610 State St. He said the company asked for discounted rent, which he granted, but in he is testing the market to see if anyone else is interested in the space.
Joshua Molina is journalist who currently writes for Noozhawk and teaches journalism at Santa Barbara City College. He formerly covered politics and land use for the San Jose Mercury News. Santa Barbara Talks is an independently owned podcast where Molina looks to bring together voices from all perspectives to discuss and provide solutions to the challenges related to housing, education, transportation and other community issues. Subscribe to his podcast here and consider a contribution here.