State Street This Fall, Read Block by Block

State Street's newest tenants are not spread evenly up the street. The commitments that will last longest are going to the blocks the city already counts as working. A university has taken a storefront on the 400 block. A music conservatory breaks ground on the 900 block on October 15. The upper blocks are filling one small independent shop at a time, and one of them just lost a restaurant.

City administrator Tess Harris described the split in a late-September interview with the Santa Barbara Independent. Over the past five years, she said, the 500, 700 and 900 blocks have done well, while the 1000 and 1200 blocks have done poorly, both "significantly so." She added that downtown sales tax has mostly been flat. She also counted nearly 20 businesses that have signed leases or opened in the past six months. Walking north from the 400 block, you can see where those businesses landed.

The 400 Block Gets a University Address

The former Staples at 410 State Street is now UC Santa Barbara's downtown storefront. UCSB describes it as a flexible space that can host community events, coworking, retail or innovation programs. Downtown Santa Barbara's June roundup of new businesses also listed a Habitat for Humanity ReStore opening at 400 State and The Barber Shop moving to 429 State.

Harris pointed to the UCSB lease as evidence for her case. "These are tenants who could pretty move anywhere they wanted," she told the Independent. "They're choosing to move downtown. That says something." Santa Barbara City College is moving its cosmetology program to State Street, and Westmont already has a downtown presence. When a school commits to a block, it has a longer planning horizon than most shops do, and it brings its people with it.

The 500 Through 800 Blocks Add Food and Clothing

One block up, Wear & Roam is a new tenant at 537 State Street, according to Edhat's September 28 roundup of clothing and lifestyle stores opening this fall. The June downtown update listed Sandbar as reopening at 514 State.

The biggest food news this stretch got all season is at 801 State Street. Milio's Pizza, a New York-style slice shop, opened on Friday, August 14, and is open Tuesday through Sunday. Inside Paseo Nuevo, Sweetaly Gelato opened at 401 Paseo Nuevo on August 1. Central Coast Community Energy appeared at 820 State on the June list.

A few steps off State, Jess Conti Leather Goods has moved from the Funk Zone to 29 El Paseo. Around the corner at 7 West Carrillo, Roy is preparing to close by the end of the year. Roy Gandy opened the restaurant in 1991, and Jack Johnson played some of his earliest gigs there in the early '90s. Gandy says he is leaving to be closer to family in Texas, not to retire. He is still open to a successor carrying the restaurant on, possibly with him returning someday, but he told the Independent "so far there are no signs of this happening." If you have a standing table there, the window to use it is roughly this quarter.

The 900 Block Is Building for 2028

The 900 block is where the longest commitment on the street is going. The Music Academy of the West and the Downtown Santa Barbara Improvement Association will hold a ceremonial groundbreaking for The Muse on Thursday, October 15, at 5 p.m. at 901 State Street. The plans include:

• A performance and rehearsal hall with retractable seating for up to 200
• Teaching and practice studios, backstage facilities and a lounge
• A rooftop terrace
• Programming that includes the Lehrer Vocal Institute, a youth choir, artist residencies, lectures and civic gatherings

The Academy's announcement puts the opening in 2028.

Across the street, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's McHurley Film Center at 916 State Street is already open. Its theater listings show rotating films with several showtimes a day. Applebox free family films run on Saturdays, and the Naomi & Ben Bollag Gallery is open daily from 2 to 8 p.m. The June roundup also listed SuperMoss at 922 State. Once The Muse is built, one block will hold a film center and a concert hall facing each other. For now, the film center is the part you can use.

Above the 1000 Block, Smaller Leases

Harris named the upper blocks as the weak stretch, and their recent tenants are a different kind of business. They tend to be single shops with lean storefronts and a launch party, not institutions. State Street Trading Post at 1105 State opened on October 1 and has a launch celebration planned for November 7. The June downtown update listed several nearby openings:

The 1200 block also lost a restaurant. Bibi Ji quietly closed in late summer, and as of the Independent's September 2 report, its owners were negotiating to hand the lease to another eatery that hadn't been named. No replacement had been announced as of early October.

Near the Arlington Theatre, the Tamsen Gallery becomes "Bridges" in December. Jeff Bridges, photographer Susan Bridges and musician Jessie Bridges are turning it into a multi-generational family gallery, cultural center and creative club. The plans call for documentary and movie screenings, live performances and creative pop-ups. Lara Firestone and Mimi Wolfe, who run the Tamsen now, will stay on as caretakers. Bridges is the closest thing the upper street has to an institution arriving this season, and it is built around a family, not a campus.

The Argument Over Cars

This pattern is now part of a public debate. On September 1, the City Council voted 6–1 to adopt the State Street Master Plan. The plan took five years to write, and the city calls it a 20- to 30-year vision for downtown. A city staff update dated September 21 says the plan is officially adopted and the city is seeking funding to carry it out. The Independent's report on the vote listed lighting, better shuttle service and pre-construction work as near-term steps. Under an accelerated scenario, construction could start in as little as 18 months, and the project would run in three phases over six years. Funding and how the street operates in the meantime were still unsettled.

On September 29, Jim Knell, founder of SIMA Corp and by the Independent's account the street's largest commercial landlord with 300 business tenants, launched a campaign for a voter referendum to repeal Title 31. That is the ordinance that keeps cars off the nine-block promenade. His committee needs 5,400 signatures from registered city voters. Knell's argument rests on sales tax. Since the closure, he says, downtown sales tax revenue has grown by only 1 percent, compared with 42 percent on Coast Village Road, 15 percent in the Funk Zone and 14 percent on Milpas Street. Harris countered that State Street's slide began in 2017, before the closure, and that results have varied block by block. If the petition qualifies, the City Council could make the changes on its own or call an election. The earliest a special election could happen is March 2027, and it would cost the city about $300,000.

Neither side's figures settle what happens next. Both sides agree that results vary by block, and the block-by-block map above shows the same thing.

Dates on and Near the Street This Fall

Most of the dates fall on the 900 block or above it, where the street is changing fastest.

When a block changes, the buildings on it change too. If you own near State Street and want a calm, construction-minded look at what the Master Plan or a new anchor tenant could mean for your property, Madge & Hamilton Group is glad to walk the blocks with you. Let's Connect.