SANTA YNEZ SNAPSHOT P.22 I THINK ICAN P.28 CHEERS FOR EARS P.34
SANTA BARBARA
VO L U M E 4 | I S S U E 9 | M AY 2 – 1 6 | 2 0 1 5
W W W. S A N TA B A R B A R A S E N T I N E L .CO M
BUYING YOUR BUILDING
ALONG WITH YOUR CAR AND YOUR HOUSE, MAYBE YOU REALLY SHOULD OWN YOUR WORKSPACE TOO
THE COMMERCIAL CONDO 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 place where you live.” That advice could also, perhaps as compellingly, be applied to the place where you work. Especially if you are a small-business owner with a triple-net lease on an office or small manufacturing space of, say, less than 1,500 or 2,000 square feet in size. Why? You ask. Well, mainly to lock in a rent certain for the next, oh, 20 years. After which you’d own the building or condominium unit you are occupying. And, let’s call it
(image: 517 Chapala St. Listed at $2,650,000, 11,500 SF)
by James Buckley
what it is: your workspace. Not only would you own it, you’d also have something to sell that may considerably enhance the value of your company. There is probably not a business owner out there, big or small, who hasn’t experienced rent shock when the building he’d been occupying with a nice five- or tenyear or longer lease is sold, and the new owner adds a healthy percentage hike in order to cover the new real-estate tax and insurance costs. That, of course, is what triple-net is all about, as it is you, dear lessee, who are on the hook for any change in those “triple-net” costs: real-estate taxes, insurance, and maintenance,
I LOVE YOU, SB PAGE 6
Jeffrey Harding files away his paperwork to reveal why sandstone walls and El Paseo are among Santa Barbara’s best assets
whatever they may be and wherever they go. The market is tight for a free-standing building in the Santa Barbara area, and it is also tight even in what we’ll call the commercial condominium market, but there is still a chance to buy, though perhaps not in the most desirable areas.
More Visible Locations
In speaking with Austin Herlihy, senior vice president at Radius Group Commercial Real Estate during my research, I learned that not long ago, the office condominium market was generally a “second...continued p.12
HAIL, CAESAR! PAGE 32
Its anchovies-sprinkled salad, sautéed sea bass, and glorious courtyard qualify Louie’s California Bistro as a best-kept secret