When Barrett Reed and his business partner, John Goodman, opened up their vintage car business in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone 10 years ago, the area didn’t have much, well, funk.
As the years rolled by, however, and today’s vibrant collection of tap rooms, classy restaurants and artsy shops began to assemble, Goodman and Reed began formulating an idea.
Several years ago, they acquired more property and, as they bided their time, occupied it with an art gallery as they meticulously planned the development of their own mini-Funk Zone.
The result is the Waterline, an adaptive reuse project that will host local wines and beers, a restaurant and an art collective.
The property, at 120 Santa Barbara St., has a soft opening Friday with two of its tenants: The Nook restaurant and Lama Dog – Tap Room + Bottle Shop.
“We’ve intended it to be a very community-centric space, a neighborhood space,” Reed told Noozhawk.
Although the businesses within the Waterline are clearly defined spatially, he said the open design creates a sense of interconnectedness. The Nook has an open-format kitchen that serves the entire property, which includes patios, more intimate dining spaces and its own parking lot.
“We’ve spent two years putting together the right mix of tenants that are all locally based retailers,” Reed said. “They have deep roots in the community, and most important, I think, for the success of the project, is that they like each other.”
The Waterline’s entrepreneurs, brewers, chefs and vintners, he said, have long been well acquainted with one another.
The Nook is a product of well-known local chef Norbert Schulz and his business partner, Brigitte Guehr, whom Reed credit as “largely responsible for bringing the contemporary fine dining to this area and really expanding it.”
The menu, he said, “will be paired, to start, with the beers and wines that Pete Burnham of Lama Dog will be serving. And then the menu will adjust to cater to each individual tenant.”
That will make for quite a bit of variety, given the 100-plus craft beers Lama Dog is bringing to the Waterline. Most of them are sourced from across California, and 20 of those will be on tap, along with four wines.
At its grand opening, which is planned for late summer, the Waterline will debut its other three tenants: Ventura-based Topa Topa Brewing Co., Los Olivos-based Blair Fox Cellars and the Guilded Table, a studio space and gallery where artists and artisans create and display their work.
“I think having it in this area, as a part of what’s going on in the Funk Zone, so close to the ocean, so close to just more of the energy in downtown Santa Barbara will be great,” Reed said.
The Waterline is housed in 10,000 square feet of century-old warehouses that have been redesigned by local architect Kevin Moore.
“We’ve designed it in a way that we think has sustainability and longevity, something that we would want to experience and come back to on a weekly basis,” Reed said.
The Waterline will be open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to midnight Thursday through Saturday, including its Friday soft opening.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
