Our 164TH Year
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t u e sDAY, M AY 5, 2 02 0
Real estate sales down Report: Activity sluggish before coronavirus, ‘hit a wall’ after By PAUL GONZALEZ NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
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RafaEl MaldONadO/NEWS-PRESS PhotoS
Costco in Goleta has started to require customers to wear masks.
COVID-19: Phase 2
outh Coast commercial real estate sales sharply fell during the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same time last year, but the coronavirus may not be entirely to blame. On Friday, Santa Barbara-based Hayes Commercial Group released a five-page South Coast commercial real estate market report on the first quarter of 2020. According to the report, the uncertain public health trajectory of the coronavirus can’t be accurately predicted. Therefore, forecasting its economic impacts is “a matter of speculation.” “Most economists warn that a V-shaped recovery is unlikely, and we should expect a more gradual L-shaped thawing of the economy. We would echo that caution in regard to commercial real estate.” The report said 13 commercial sales transactions were finalized in the South Coast during the first quarter; down 38% from the same time period in 2019 and down 37% from the five-year average. Those sales, which exclude hotels, were worth $38 million, the lowest single-quarter total since 2011. That total is down 70% from 2019 and 63% from the five-year average. The largest sale of the quarter, a 24,772 square foot office in the 1150 block of Eugenia Place in Carpinteria, accounted for $9 million of the total. Other noteworthy sales include a $5.7 million sale in the 500 block of State Street, a $5.6 million sale in the 100 block of East Micheltorena Street and a $4.2 million off-market sale in the 2500 block of Lillie Avenue in Summerland. There are currently 74 commercial properties for sale in the South Coast, up 17% from 2019 and up 40% from the five-year average. “There was not a “coronavirus effect” on sales during Q1 in which Please see REAL ESTATE on A2
Gearing up for Gov. Newsom’s next phase begins as retail businesses are expected to reopen on Friday
By JOSH GREGA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
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ov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that the timetable for reopening California’s businesses will be accelerated by starting its second phase this Friday. Phase two will see the reopening of the “low risk” retail sector and allow retailers such as clothing stores, bookstores, sporting goods stores and florists to conduct business via pickup and dropoff. It will also allow the manufacturing tied to those businesses to resume. Retailers that wish to reopen on Friday will have to follow a set of guidelines that the state of California will reveal on Thursday. In a press conference Monday, Santa Barbara County
2nd District Supervisor Gregg Hart said that of the six preconditions the governor outlined for determining the extent to which the stay-athome order should be modified, four apply to the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department. The four criteria met include the ability to test, contact trace and support patients exposed to COVID-19, the ability to protect those most vulnerable to COVID-19 from getting the virus, the ability for hospitals to handle surges, and the ability for the County to reinstate certain protective measures should it become necessary. Mr. Hart said of moving into phase two, “We will be closely reviewing the criteria to be set forth by the governor this week and referenced in his press conference remarks today to make final determinations on
how best to move forward on his new timetable.” This week, with the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department receiving guidelines from the state level and the county’s business reopening task force working out operational issues businesses may face under phase two strictures, the councilmember said the county is moving “as fast as we can” to get eligible businesses up and running on Friday. While local retailers are awaiting the guidelines under which they’ll have to operate upon reopening at the end of the week, Santa Barbara’s essential businesses have just had a week under the Santa Barbara City Council’s mandate that all employees and customers wear face coverings. While this requirement was passed on April 28, some
A sign at the Leadbetter Beach parking lot reminds visitors to be careful.
essential businesses such as the Ralphs on Carrillo Street have had mask requirements in place for a few weeks. Other local grocers requiring face coverings include Smart & Final and, starting Monday, Costco in Goleta’s Camino Real Marketplace. Costco shoppers who spoke to the News-Press Monday afternoon were universally supportive of the measure. “I think it’s great,” Goleta resident Michelle Roberson said. “It’s not here to protect us. It’s to protect everybody else, and we have a social responsibility to be kind to each other.” Santa Barbara resident Stephen Honikman said he had “no problem with it” and called it “the courteous thing to do.” While she does feel claustrophobic wearing a facemask, Carpinteria resident Clare Westfall conceded that the requirement is prudent. “I feel for now it’s a good thing. We just need to ride this epidemic out until things improve,” she said. During Monday’s press conference, Santa Barbara County Public Health Department director Van Do-Reynoso announced that today will mark the first day of COVID-19 testing at the Santa Maria Fairpark, and that testing sites will open in Lompoc and Santa Barbara later this week. Appointments are required for getting tested and can be made by calling 888634-1124, or by visiting www. lhi.care/covidtesting. Testing will be free of charge or billed to health insurance when possible. On Monday, 12 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Santa Barbara County, creating a total of 526 cases, according to Dr. Henning Ansorg, the Public Health Department’s. The doctor added that 65 of those people with active cases are recovering at home, with
KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS PhotoS
Eric Kelley, owner of The Book Den, said the store is weathering the COVID-19 pandemic as well as it possibly can.
Quick response Book sales skyrocket after Facebook post goes viral By JOSH GREGA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
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ric Kelley of The Book Den recently had a first in the 41 years and 22 days he has owned the Anapamu Street book shop. His first day of zero sales. He has faced the challenge of selling books in the era of COVID-19, taking only online and over-the-phone orders and delivering them to customers through curbside pickup and mail order. Those limited means of doing business produced $0 in revenue on April 23. This came as a surprise to the proprietor, who shared his debelief publicly on The Book Den’s Facebook page the next day. April 24 didn’t fall on indifferent eyes, however, as
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it produced what Mr. Kelley called an “outpouring of orders.” Though he couldn’t put an exact dollar amount on how much his social media post generated, Mr. Kelley told the News-Press that orders skyrocketed and that he and his employees took on a staggering and sudden increase in business. “We were pretty busy,” he said. A frequent user of Facebook for his business, Mr. Kelley called the zero business post “the first viral post I’ve had,” which he said reached 13,000 people. As of April 28, the post has 63 comments and 98 shares. The former mainly consisted of sympathetic messages and posts by people who said they made a purchase after seeing the post. One read, “What a bummer. Please see BOOKS DEN on A2
LOTTERY RESULTS Saturday’s.SUPER.LOTTO:.4-7-21-37-43.Meganumber:.7 Friday’s.MEGA.MILLIONS:.28-30-31-35-66.Meganumber:.14 Monday’s.DAILY.DERBY:.10-04-11.TIME:.1:46:40 Monday’s.Daily.3:.0-8-8./.Evening:.9-4-2
Monday’s.DAILY.4:.8-6-3-6 Moday’s.FANTASY.5:.4-8-21-23-26 Saturday’s.POWERBALL:.13-16-33-58-68.Meganumber:.24