SANTA BARBARA – The building that has been home to the Arts & Letters Café and Sullivan Goss Art Gallery for 20 years was purchased by a local investor/entrepreneur. The property at 7 E. Anapamu St – which features an indoor gallery space and an enclosed courtyard restaurant – was put on the market in December by longtime owner-proprietor Frank Goss.

While the café has closed in anticipation of the sale, Goss will be consolidating his gallery collection into the building next door, which he has been leasing for the last 10 years. Steve Hayes and Michael Martz of Hayes Commercial Group represented Goss in the sale of the building. Steve Hayes also represented Goss years ago when he initially purchased the building for his business.

“It’s been fun to come full circle with Frank on this 20-year chapter of his life,” Hayes said. “Frank is such a Santa Barbara treasure.”

The building attracted several offers and closed above the asking price of $2,125,000. The property is located just off State Street in the heart of Santa Barbara’s arts and entertainment district and is surrounded by a variety of attractions, including the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Granada Theatre, the Santa Barbara Public Market, the Arlington Theatre, and a number of other restaurants and galleries. The interior courtyard with its central fountain is unique to downtown and was also an important selling point.

The new owner, Steve Hermann, is a designer who plans to utilize the entire space as a restaurant and bring in an acclaimed chef to create a fine dining experience in this prime location. “The building is a one-of-a-kind space with arguably the nicest dining patio in Santa Barbara,” Martz said.