Construction Fits and Starts

Santa Barbara Planning Chief Paul Casey said he’s not troubled that construction has abated at the site of Fess Parker’s proposed new waterfront hotel on Cabrillo Boulevard for the past six weeks. Casey said Parker has obtained new financing for the project and is vigorously working on the new youth hostel, located behind the site of Parker’s proposed five-star hotel.

Casey is less sanguine, however, that the open pit that’s swallowed the bottom two blocks of State Street will see construction activity commence anytime soon, explaining that the bank that repossessed the property after developer Bill Levy defaulted two years ago has indicated construction will begin this September. The bank has spent the better part of two years to find a new buyer to build the timeshare condos for which Levy won approval. The first structure to go up, Casey said, would be a new parking garage. “At this point, I’ve become the show-me state,” Casey said. “If they don’t get going by September, I’m pulling their permits.”