A downtown Santa Barbara corner may be headed for a dramatic transformation.
The former Casa Blanca restaurant at the corner of State and Gutierrez streets could be home to a new music venue, a restaurant, a piano lounge and bar, and a park.
The Santa Barbara Historic Landmarks Commission expressed support for the project and most elements of the design during a concept review hearing Wednesday.
“I am pretty excited about this project,” Commissioner Cass Ensberg said. “I think it’s really, really nice, and I really like the approach and the thinking.”
The site is currently fenced and generally has been an eyesore since it closed in 2020. The new owners of the building, Jeffrey Wilkins and 9 Muses LLC, purchased it last year and plan to eliminate 18 spaces and replace it with landscaping to create an urban park-like atmosphere.
They want to include a restaurant and a market, an outdoor dining area and bike spaces, and make window and facade changes, including new steel canopies.
The building is considered a structure of merit. A Moorish tower was designed in 1937 by Carlton Winslow and R.H. Pitman. The owners don’t plan to make any changes to the tower. The building underneath was designed in 1926 by Lionel Pries in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, according to a report from the city.
With new apartments across the street built by Peter Lewis and now owned by UCSB, business owners envision the area as vibrant and experiencing change. The city earlier this year wrapped up a redesign of the nearby State Street underpass, which includes whimsical art elements and new lighting.
Graham Goldich, the landscape designer for the project, said he wants to reimagine the corner of State and Gutierrez streets.
“We have opened this corner entirely to invite people in off the street,” Goldich said. “As you are walking by, it is just completely closed off, and we really want to bring people in.”
The architects for the project, AB Design Studio, said people would likely park in two nearby city lots. Clay Aurell, co-founder and principal of AB Design Studio, said they are in talks with nearby REI to use its parking lot at night.
“We are removing all the parking, and we are trying to create a park-like setting on the corner of State and Gutierrez,” Aurell said.
He said the exact programming is yet to be determined, but the idea is to have the market be a place for coffee in the morning and sandwiches for lunch, and then the restaurant a place for dinner. The piano lounge would include a bar, and the music venue would host events day and night.
The commissioners were generally supportive of the project, offering some feedback, including less landscaping so that the buildings aren’t hidden from the street. Other commissioners expressed concerns about the colors of the entryway at the corner, preferring something darker.
Commissioner Ed Lenvik said he didn’t like the paving materials because they didn’t fit with Santa Barbara, and that he envisioned “guacamole and catsup” staining them quickly.
Commissioner Dennis Doordan said the project seemed “overdesigned to be casual.”
Overall, however, the commissioners expressed excitement about something new.
“Anything would be better than what is there now,” Commissioner Michael Drury said. “This is a very lovely project.”
Commissioner Sheila Lodge added, “It will be very nice when it is done.”
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