Walking through UC Santa Barbara’s campus, one wouldn’t realize that inside the very buildings they pass by, students and entrepreneurs are inside labs making diamonds and microchips and analyzing data…

This week, the National Science Foundation announced the award of a six-year, $22M grant to UC Santa Barbara under its biofoundries program for the establishment of the BioFoundry for Extreme…

After graduating from the University of Southern California, Steve Hayes knew he wanted to be in some form of sales work. After all, it was something he had been doing…

Three downtown business leaders talked about the benefits of the proposed Community Benefit Assessment District for State Street in the latest episode of Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina. Francois…

Funk Zone business Validation Ale has signed a lease for a second location at 2840 De la Vina St. in Santa Barbara. Validation Annex will move into a building that…

Caitlin Hensel has been busy sealing deals. In addition to the Validation Ale lease, Hensel represented the incoming tenant to 420 E. Carrillo St. The building was previously occupied by…

A commercial real estate shakeup is underway. Goleta-based Inogen, which makes oxygen therapy products, has leased 17,900 square feet at 859 Ward Drive, near Highway 217. Inogen is right-sizing its…

It’s Wednesday night at the Santa Barbara Public Market, and there’s not a seat easily to be found. About 100 people are packed into the common dining area toward the…

UC Santa Barbara’s Material Research Laboratory has been chosen as one of the nine universities awarded an $18 million grant from the National Science Institute, to be distributed over a…

Santa Barbara’s State Street continues its struggles. Between the 400 and 1300 blocks, the rate of vacant storefronts inched up to 14.1% from the prior year, according to Hayes Commercial…

Tech Firm Plugging Into Building Marks Positive Sign for This Southern California Market One of the largest leases signed in California’s coastal Santa Barbara County was a nod to the…

Software technology companies on the South Coast are looking to sublease significant portions of the properties because of the rise in remote work that began even before the start of…

Many California downtowns have yet to see empty office buildings converted into homes, at least at any large scale. Assemblymember Matt Haney has introduced a new proposal to change that….

Mattress Firm is coming to the Five Points Shopping Center in Santa Barbara. The Houston-based company has leased the spaces formerly occupied by Saigon Restaurant and La Salsa, according to…

The Central Coast might never be Silicon Valley, but the technology scene that exists in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties is strong and consistent. That isn’t going…

Workers are returning to U.S. offices at the highest rate since the pandemic forced most workplaces to temporarily close in 2020, as infection rates continue to fall and more companies intensify efforts to bring…

The COVID-19 pandemic brought home the fact that for many companies, it’s viable to have a workforce that works almost entirely from home, and that’s prompted some tough decisions about…

Procore is subleasing one of the buildings at its campus overlooking the ocean in Carpinteria, according to a listing with Hayes Commercial Group. The 50,000-square-foot building, located at 6267 Carpinteria…

One of the crown jewels of Santa Barbara commercial real estate has changed ownership from one prominent South Coast family to another. Riviera Park, which housed the original buildings of…

A $780,000 consultant from Seattle will try to come up with a plan to fix Santa Barbara’s State Street. The City Council voted unanimously, 7-0, to hire MIG Inc., but…

Raytheon Technologies is greatly expanding its presence in Southern California, including filling 200 new jobs in at its Goleta operation. In total, Raytheon will be adding 1,000 jobs the Southern…

Santa Barbara is leaning toward a possible commercial vacancy tax on property owners who neglect their buildings. It was one of the several proposals and ideas that came out of the…

Peter Sullivan and his wife had dreamt of moving to Santa Barbara for a decade. Last year, that dream became a reality, when Sullivan and wife — along with his…

An Agoura Hills-based real estate investment company purchased a six-building industrial/research and development campus in Goleta in an off-market transaction for $50.7 million. In a news release, Hayes Commercial Group…

The Harbor Restaurant and Longboard’s Grill on Stearns Wharf were sold to an entity known as Santa Barbara Harbor Restaurant Inc., for an undisclosed amount.

Earlier this month, 94 property owners on Coast Village Road received a formal petition for the proposed Coast Village Community Benefit Improvement District (CBID), an idea brought forth by the…

Two high-profile Santa Barbara hotels were acquired by billionaires in 2021, according to Hayes Commercial Group’s recently released South Coast market report. Diane Hendricks purchased the 75-room Hotel Santa Barbara…

Cari Shore, a senior vice president and director of community banking at Montecito Bank & Trust, started working in the banking industry 30 years ago. Since then, she said, there…

If there was any doubt that commercial real estate sales have not yet recovered from the pandemic recession, a recent report released by Santa Barbara’s Hayes Commercial Group certainly proves…

The city’s premier open-space food hall — Santa Barbara Public Market, nestled at the edge of downtown on the corner of Chapala and Victoria streets — was recently sold to…

With goals of bringing new energy and some new investments, two local families have purchased the Santa Barbara Public Market and an adjacent space in downtown Santa Barbara. The market…

Caitlin Hensel’s summary of Santa Barbara’s recent CRE activity:
• A wine-drenched game of musical chairs
• Owner-user takeover

The Nordstrom building in downtown Santa Barbara is in the final steps before it sells, and the new owner is looking to turn the upper floors into new office space,…

For a while there, and for obvious reasons, Santa Barbara’s office-space market was ice cold. Companies had no idea how or when the pandemic would end, so they deferred on…

The former Macy’s building in downtown Santa Barbara will be transformed into office space, the Hayes Commercial Group announced Monday. Located at 701 State St., the 132,500-square-foot building in the Paseo Nuevo shopping mall will…

Coast Village Road is cruising. The Santa Barbara City Council voted 7-0 on Tuesday to approve an ordinance that will allow the Coast Village Association the opportunity to form a…

The Pacific Coast Business Times asked several local real estate brokers how they see the commercial markets in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties developing in the coming…

Majestic Asset Management purchased a 175,211 square-foot office campus in Goleta last week. Located at 7414-7418 Hollister Ave., the three-building, 14.6-acre campus has primarily been occupied by software companies over…

Work and business spaces are shifting in response to the COVID-19 pandemic [Excerpts of the article follow. See the full text at the link above.] Coronavirus is changing how and…

SANTA BARBARA, Calif — Several new reports show leasing in the core of downtown Santa Barbara is up and a turn around maybe be taking place after about three years…

Empty Space in Affluent Santa Barbara, California, Revamped for Bustling Tech Sector Nationwide, clothing outlets are shrinking their real estate while technology firms are growing theirs. Now, those two trends…

An affiliate of Montana Avenue Capital Partners, LLC has purchased a three-building campus along Castilian Drive in Goleta for more than $35.7 million dollars. The property, located at 50, 70…

Majestic Asset Management Inc. purchased two research and development office buildings neighboring parcels in Goleta for $24.25 million. The Agoura Hills-based company owns and develops investment properties primarily in Los…

[Following are excepts. To read the full article, please follow the “original source” link above.] Two years after major changes in four South Coast luxury hotels, there has been a…

I need a new couch. Nothing fancy, just a comfortable place to lie down and take a break from all this sitting. And sofas, like shoes and mattresses, are tricky…

New Study Doesn’t Hold Back, But Offers Concrete Solutions The City of Santa Barbara “does not have a business-friendly reputation,” its permitting process for new retailers is “expensive and high-risk,”…

In Santa Barbara, nearly 70 technology companies now call downtown home. Hayes Commercial Group released a report this week that shows downtown Santa Barbara is growing into a hotbed for…

Expanding technology companies are absorbing office space on State Street in Downtown Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara’s tech industry is growing, and expanding firms are absorbing office space on State Street…

CenCal Health has purchased the 60,225-square-foot office building at 4050 Calle Real in Santa Barbara. CenCal Health had been leasing space in the building since 2009. Francois DeJohn and Steve…

Software company Invoca recently leased the 27,773-square-foot building at 419 State St. in downtown Santa Barbara. The company moved from a 14,746-square-foot office at 1025 Chapala St. Francois DeJohn, Steve…

Call analytics company Invoca recently leased office space in downtown Santa Barbara, upgrading its headquarters to 27,773 square feet at 419 State St. The move marks a significant expansion from…

A portion of the Cabrillo Business Park in Goleta recently sold to developer RAF Pacifica Group in a movement that could challenge downtown Santa Barbara’s claim as the principal business…

Developer plans to construct premium flex/R&D and office space at Goleta site Developer RAF Pacifica has purchased 11 acres in Goleta’s Cabrillo Business Park, in one of the most expensive commercial land deals…

As Santa Barbara’s State Street struggles with the largest number of commercial properties for sale in its history, and the greatest number of vacant retail spaces since the 2008 recession, an unheralded,…

The imminent arrival of Target at Storke Plaza has cemented the retail area south of Hollister Avenue at Storke Road as Goleta’s primary destination for retailers, according to Hayes Commercial Group. “In…

Hayes Commercial Group has reported that commercial real estate sales for the first three months of 2017 in the South Coast area have “maintained the momentum of 2016,” with Santa Barbara seeing…

Juice Ranch, a local juice shop with locations in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria and Westlake Village, has leased a 587-square-foot space in Montecito’s Coast Village Plaza. Francoise DeJohn and Michael Martz…

At a time when Ventura and San Luis Obispo are experiencing a rise in sales and transient occupancy taxes, the city of Santa Barbara is struggling to offset a decline…

Four floors of the tallest building in Santa Barbara have been sold to a local investor. Floors 3 through 6 of the 116-foot Granada Theatre tower serve as commercial space,…

Three years after Rusty’s Pizza Parlor announced its exit from the lighthouse building at 15 E. Cabrillo Blvd. in Santa Barbara, the iconic site is preparing for its next tenant….

The customizable, fine-dining experience of Los Angeles’ Scratch|Bar & Kitchen is checking into the Montecito Inn. On Nov. 4, executive chef Phillip Frankland Lee and his wife, pastry chef Margarita…

Part of the tallest building in Santa Barbara is now up for sale, with the owner of the Granada Tower hoping to parcel off four of the eight-story building’s floors…

Anyone who’s ever wanted to live within a piece of art that also doubles as an office will find refuge within El Jardin, a soon-to-hit the market live/work unit in…

At the corner of Haley and Laguna Streets, a few familiar faces recently settled into a new, urban chic setting designed by builders Darrell and Kirsten Becker. The couple has…

Liam Murphy has joined the board of trustees of Child Abuse Listening Mediation. He has served on the Facilities Committee for several years. Mr. Murphy is a commercial real estate…

Record-setting real estate deals were the name of the game in Carpinteria recently.In terms of size, the sale of the nine-acre, ocean-front property that is home to CKE Restaurant Holdings…

A Gandolfo’s New York Deli will open this summer in downtown Santa Barbara, serving up the chain’s famous smoked pastrami on rye and other East Coast specialties. [Note: Michael Martz…

Seek Thermal was getting too big for its britches at its former headquarters just off Calle Real in Goleta, so the company recently sized up to 10,000-plus square feet of…

By: James Buckley-Santa Barbara Sentinel. [Excerpted]. The Haley Street corridor, bordered by East Montecito Street and Cota and stretching from Laguna to, well, perhaps all the way to Milpas, seems…

Kris Parker, grandson of the late Fess Parker, is working to open Santa Barbara’s newest brewery operation. With the help of a few friends, family members and business partners, Parker…

By: James Buckley-Santa Barbara Sentinel. [Excerpted] A couple issues ago (Sentinel #4/6), we opined in these pages that “all things being equal (and they never are) you should own the…

Suddenly, Carpinteria is getting a lot of attention. With business-centric social networking site Linkedln’s $1.5 billion purchase of on-line training company Lynda.com, the city is in the limelight. Carpinteria is…

With the chapter closed on 2014, real estate brokers in the Tri-Counties have some significant benchmarks to compete with in 2015. Records were broken and deal volumes through the first…

The owners of Sullivan Goss — An American Gallery are downsizing their business to the art gallery at 11 E. Anapamu St. and selling the building that currently houses their…

By Elijah Brumback. Pacific Coast Business Times. Montecitos Coast Village Road continues to be a hot spot for commercial real estate investment as the Coast Village Plaza recently traded hands…

By Steve Sinovic. Newspress Staff Writer. Internet search giant Google has leased a new facility in the Hollister Avenue high-technology corridor, planning to staff the facility with a team of…

By: Elijah Brumback. Pacific Coast Business Times. HG Data, a business intelligence firm, recently signed a 3.5-year lease for 9,000 square feet in a former dance studio at 1 N….

While waiting for the value of the land to rise, “trailer parks” (currently known as manufactured housing communities) were developed as temporary uses in these “middle of nowhere” locations. Today,…

Serious money continues to make its way into the Goleta area, as evidenced by the purchase of an office building by an unnamed investor in what deal makers claim is…

Samy’s Camera has signed up for 11,450 square feet of space at 530 State St., the largest retail lease in downtown Santa Barbara in three years, according to commercial real…

Samy’s Camera plans to lease a smaller downtown Santa Barbara location at 530 State St., where the retail shop would relocate in July, according to company management. The new space…

In my last retail report I commented on the rise in the “wealth effect,” in which the recent rise in home values and substantial gains in the stock market have…

Sonos is now the only company in downtown Santa Barbara that occupies more than 100,000 square feet of space. The company signed leases collectively valued at more than $21 million…

Suzanne Wolfe Jewell and Wayne Jewell have spent five years helping other clients build custom trampoline parks around the U.S., an increasingly popular form of entertainment and exercise. Now, the…

In his mid-year retail outlook, Michael Martz of Hayes Commercial Group asserts that upmarket retailers are becoming active again in Santa Barbara’s central business district, hoping to capitalize on the…

The commercial real estate recovery along the South Coast remained bumpy in the first half of the year, according to the latest report from Hayes Commercial Group. “The first half…

Part social club, part coffee-shop hangout and part technology incubator, Workzones is a new “co-working” space in downtown Santa Barbara. The member-based club has taken over 4,927 square feet of…

Steve Hayes, a prominent figure in commercial real estate in the Santa Barbara area, has joined the Lobero Theatre board. As managing partner with Hayes Commercial Group, Steve Hayes brings…

A South Coast investor has purchased Venoco’s 50,955-square-foot headquarters building in Carpinteria. The property at 6267 Carpinteria Ave. was purchased by real estate investor Victor Schaff for an undisclosed amount….

The South Coast commercial real estate market broke sales records last year, with the total deal value topping $365 million. The news came from Hayes Commercial Group, which jokingly noted…

Two San Francisco based entrepreneurs have taken a creative approach to home decor, saying their store is unlike anything in downtown with hand picked items brought in from around the…

Two Santa Barbara newcomers have opened shop this month at Super Chic by combining their love of design and of the eclectic. Located at 1A W. Canon Perdido, the shop…

Steve Hayes remembers meeting his clients at places around town, rushing back to his office, checking voicemail and then heading back out. It was commercial real estate, in the low-tech…

Sales in commercial real estate posted increases in Santa Barbara County during the third quarter, while commercial leasing experienced a decline. Commercial Realtors who released their third-quarter summaries from the…

There’s a summer retail shuffle happening on Santa Barbara’s State Street. The region’s versions of Rodeo Drive has seen a number of new leases, expansions, and moves this summer, including…

The City of Santa Barbara is putting the parking lot of the former Milpas Street post office up for sale in a sealed-bid auction to be held on July 19….

ormer pastry chef Cindy Black decided to open her Asian-fusion Blue Owl midnight eatery a year and a half ago when she noticed there weren’t many late-night dining options. But…

Santa Barbara-based Ergomotion, a fast-growing supplier in the adjustable bed industry, will move the lion’s share of its operations from existing spaces in what brokers are calling the largest commercial…

While adjustable beds are most often found in hospitals and retirement homes, one Santa Barbara company is trying to demonstrate that the beds aren’t just for the sick and elderly….

Ergomotion, a company that makes adjustable bed bases, has signed the largest commercial lease in Santa Barbara so far this year. Year-to-date, the 9,656-square-foot lease at 203 Chapala St. is…

Scottsdale-based high-end jeweler Scott Gauthier has selected State Street as the site for his third bricks-and-mortar store, according to the Santa Barbara-based real estate commercial broker who arranged the deal….

he Loop, a $12.5 million mixed-use project in downtown Isla Vista, is opening this summer, in time for the new school year. The four-story infiII project is being developed by…

Neil Dipaola described Isla Vista’s newest student housing facility as the box seats at a concert. The UCSB alumnus used to live in the “front row.” He and 16 of…

As Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market prepares to open on Milpas Street in Santa Barbara, businesses along the corridor hope the new storefront brings new traffic. The 11,680-square-foot international grocery…

Commercial real estate investors are ready for a bit of risk. According to a 2011 Colliers survey, more than half of U.S. investors surveyed are prepared to move out of…

Evolutions Medical Spa’s lease at 1309 State St. expires next week. The Santa Barbara business entertained renewing the lease or moving but didn’t think about purchasing a building, co-owner Brian…

Real Estate Forum magazine recognized Hayes Commercial Group as one of Southern California’s top brokerage houses in its December 2011 issue. Hayes Commercial earned a spot as the only Santa…

Multiprobe previously leased 819 Reddick St and 425 N. Milpas St. An unknown seller listed the buildings in an office/industrial sale for $3,950,000. Using the Small Business Administration (SBA) financing,…

Corporations around the globe have been holding on to office space in anticipation of a market rebound, but that’s about to change. “A growing number of corporate property owners say…

Office leasing was a bright spot in South Santa Barbara County in 2011, the brokers at Hayes Commercial Group note, and office vacancy remains tight in the downtown business corridor….

The Santa Barbara-based business specializes in moving and storing valuable furniture, art, antiques and classic automobiles. Owner Brett Menth said he needed additional storage space to accommodate requests for classic…

The 24,500-square-foot store at 321 Anacapa St. has filled all of its 62 positions but is still accepting applications, according to REI spokeswoman Beth Hawley. “I look at what this…

Watkins shared his insights on the local and national economies with about 300 people who attended Montecito Bank &Trust’s first Business-to-Business (B2B) event Tuesday night at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort….

“It’s pretty amazing,” said Dahl, producer and art director for Techtonic Games. “I always wanted to be in this exact position I’m in now.” Techtonic Games is a new video…

An East Coast-based investment group acquired the building, which is at 301 Mentor Dr. and is a two-story structure that is fully leased by Mentor Worldwide and Tetra Tech. In…

The two-story property at 301 Mentor Drive, near Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, is fully leased by Mentor Worldwide and Tetra Tech. “It’s not often that a fully leased investment property…

Goleta startup AppFolio creates easy-to-use software for the property management industry. To make room for its growth, it nearly doubled its 8,000-square-foot home at 55 Castilian Drive — across the…

The store will occupy the 15,262-square foot space at 833 State St. the site of the bookstore chain, until it closed late last year. “We think it’s going to be…

Savvy on State is the name of the newest retailer that plans to open its doors in one of Santa Barbara’s premier shopping corridors, joining marquee brands like Marshalls and…

Mike Sheldon, CEO of Network Hardware, told me his firm has hired 20 or 30 people so far this year, and plans to hire that many more before the end…

The four-year-old cloud computing company’s CEO said Tuesday that the staff has cause to be upbeat, thanks to his inking the largest new lease of office space in the downtown…

RightScale makes software that lets companies use remote servers for big computing tasks. It has raised $47.2 million in venture capital since it was incorporated in 2007. CEO Michael Crandell…

Region-wide unemployment is expected to fall to about 7 percent over the next two to three years, the group said in its annual forecast, delivered May 5 in Santa Barbara….

That was the view from Andrew Ross Sorkin, top mergers and acquisitions reporter at the New York Times, when he spoke in Santa Barbara on May 5. Sorkin’s talk, titled…

More improvement is seen in 2012 and 2013, shaping up as a lot more vibrant, said Mr. Schniepp on Thursday, detailing his analysis of the local economy in the year…

Jean-Michel and Jill-Marie Carrè have leased an 830-square-foot storefront in the La Arcada Courtyard at 1114 State St. “We hope to be open by Easter,” said Mrs. Carrè who added…

The building was previously occupied by Hollywood Video, Quizno’s and Morningstar cafe. Michael Martz and Pamela Scott of Hayes Commercial Group represented the seller in the transaction, and Trampis Chandler…

Santa Barbara Asset Management’s headquarters will be moving from 200 E. Carrillo Street to the fifth floor of the El Paseo building, according to a joint press release by Hayes…

Santa Barbara firms Radius Commercial Real Estate, Pacifica Commercial Realty, Hayes Commercial Group and Lee & Associates Central Coast have offered their insights into how commercial real estate vacancy rates…

That’s the consensus from the commercial real estate insiders I asked to gaze into the crystal ball for our annual forecast issue. Here are some thoughts from brokers throughout the…

The city is losing both its Borders and Barnes & Noble bookstores, and it looks like discount clothing stores Marshalls and H&M are moving in. Santa Barbara has seen a…

However, take that same electric shuttle ride today from Sola Street to Gutierrez Street and scores of new business names can be seen in the windows of the shops that…

Hayes Commercial Group represented all parties in the deal. The project, 535 E. Montecito Street, will consist of 40 two-and three-bedroom condos that would be sold at below-market rates, and…

Tracy Porter, a business that’s described as a lifestyle brand by its eponymous founder, has inked a five-year contract to open a new retail store at 1100 State St. The…

The deal represents one of the top 10 commercial property sales of 2010 on the South Coast and is the largest commercial sale of the year in Carpinteria, Celmayster notes….

After starting three restaurants — Santa Barbara Shellfish Co., The Santa Barbara FisHouse and the Boat House at Hendry’s Beach — co-owners Tom and Adam White will launch a fourth…

Betting that the region’s premier commercial corridor is a good place to do business for the long term, the nation’s fifth-largest bank will open its only full branch in downtown…

U.S. Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the nation, will also occupy a 3,000-square- foot facilitytoward the rear of the State Street property.Shooz, a retailer, most recently occupied the…

US Bank, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the nation, has leased a 5,708-square-foot space at 936 State St. as a new branch location. The deal is the largest retail lease…

Santa Barbara’s State Street signed its largest downtown retail lease on July 23, with U.S. Bank snagging 5,708 square feet for a new location. The deal comes the same day…