Wine Cask Evicted

Karma at force. Perhaps the phoenix Margerum refers to will be the spirit of the eucaplyptus.....

Bummer, our family wants to thank all the wonderful people who have served and educated us on fine food and wine the last 30 yrs. Another SB institution bites the dust, sad.

What will become of the Wine Futures; and how will that affect our local wineries' exposure to the public?

When paychecks are doled out, will people also receive a refund for gift cards purchased?

Incredible shame.

Well folks that was it for our loveley courtyard spaces in the Downtown area.

We only have El Paseo restaurant left.

Restaurants and businesses have come and gone with rapid frequency in all of our beautiful downtown courtyard spaces for decades now. None of these businesses work out for a variety of reasons. Right now I mostly blame SIMA, which owns the bulk of them. They are only interested in jacking up the rents as high as they can possibly go without actually working with the businesses trying to rent, to work out a real plan for long term success. It's greed plane a simple. They would rather have their marquee spaces sit vacant downtown than compromise on price - which they have done repeatedly.

I predict all of El Paseo and the 1129 property to be exclusively inhabited by law firms, upscale chains and private fund managers within the next 5 years (and a large portion of them vacant of course) unless SIMA actually changes the way it runs its business or sells out.

Rather than a puff piece on "Our Friendly Commercial Real Estate Brokers" (like last week) how about an investigative piece on SIMA that is similar in detail to the Michael Brown article?

CJ, I completely 100% agree with you. I no longer recommend people to see the El Paseo, because..well...law firms and hedge funds don't add a lot of character to a property and the El Paseo restaurant isn't exactly home to culinary masterpieces.

I've heard too many horror stories about SIMA to believe that, outside a new PR blitz, they are anything but revenue-hungry landlords intent on the highest rents possible (read national chains). I recognize that they're a business and have every right to demand what the market allows, but there should also be some civic responsibility and pride in maintaining some of Santa Barbara's distinct individuality and flavor.

A victim of SIMA: Restaurant Nu, an amazing space and home to delicious food and just like that, SIMA yanked their lease (that being said, I understand it was month-to-month, so Nu does take some responsibilty). Nonetheless, the loss of that restaurant hurt more than the loss of the Wine Cask or the recently remodeled and characterless Intermezzo.

As far as the Wine Cask goes, well, they should have paid their rent. I can't fault SIMA for evicting based on non-payment (it's not a charity), but I certainly think that perhaps they should have negotiated a more recession- friendly lease (maybe they tried...) Of course, I stopped going after they yanked the tree and played with the fountain, so I can't moan too loudly about Wine Cask's plight.

A hilarious quote from the linked story reporting the original sale: "Rosenson confirmed that he's not planning any drastic changes." His stupid and tone-deaf management decisions aliented so many long-time customers that he was able to destroy a community institution in less than 2 years.

Not too many years ago El Paseo was the heart of downtown, vibrant and full of life. But then the nonprofit Historical Trust group that owned it ran onto the ground and they foolishly sold it to developers in the late 1980s. Predictably, characters like Levy, SIMA and Rosenson have since utterly trashed it. The buffoons that run the Trust bear the greatest responsibility for what El Paseo sadly is today.

There is plenty of blame to go around but SIMA and its vulture-like real estate practices are quickly decimating this town. Sorry to see the Independent publishing a fluff piece about SIMA last week when what was really called for was some good solid investigative journalism, including interviews with some of its rapidly growling list of victims.

From a physical standpoint, the El Paseo has been maintained very well. In general their properties are quite nice. I do agree, however, that some of the leasing decisions have been suspect. The fluff piece about SIMA was pretty rediculous. The new VP, Ms. Ashkar, did not "clean house". There was one bad apple that finally got fired. Ms. Ashkar was her replacement. Prior to that, most of the good hearted employees quit or were driven out by said bad apple.

That all said, I have heard from brokers in the community that SIMA's reputation is on the mend. Hopefully that trend will continue even when the economy rebounds and they don't have to be so nice due to market conditions.

I will add this: SIMA is an investment company first and foremost. Their duty is to generate returns to their investors. However, I bet if you polled the investors, many of them locals themselves, they would rather take a smaller cut in exchange for developing stronger local businesses and a better reputation within the community.

I agree that SIMA is a business looking to make money. But honestly, their rigid business model had led them to have VERY high vacancies and I seriously doubt their agressive attitude has maximized profit as effectively as it has squandered good will.

For example: there is no way you can convince me (short of uploading a complete audit of SIMA's books showing otherwise) that they could not have made MORE money renting out the 1129 restaurant space CONTINUOUSLY at a cut rate price rather than vacant for more than 50% of the time over the last decade.

It should be noted that SIMA's high vacancy rates have happened even in the "good" economic times. I sincerely hope they lose a ton of money right now so that they re-think and change the way they do business in a substantive manner rather than hire a new young face for PR.

I should also add that I am not bashing SIMA for negativity's sake. I want the beautiful and underused courtyard spaces back - plain and simple. They are a tremendous community resource that has been squandered and mismanaged by a number of people (as mentioned in previous posts). But SIMA has been doing the msot damage for a while now and they are in charge so it is their responsibility to fix it.

I agree with pkoplin, about the ignorance of Rosenson:

"His stupid and tone-deaf management decisions aliented so many long-time customers that he was able to destroy a community institution in less than 2 years."

However, this seems to be how "successful" people wreck things all the time. They buy into something because of what is IS, and then proceed to change it completely! Here's a newsflash: When a business has been around for decades, it's because people DON'T want it to change. Trying to "steal" the brand tends to only succeed in ruining a previously existing, good reputation.

As regards SIMA, I've seen many places (in another state) in modern times become barren due to rent-hikes and other apparent mismanagement, and like cj138, I'm not convinced that vacant properties makes more money than cut-rate renting--although, I have often wondered if the absent high-rent numbers are used to inflate the total cash loss in a tax write-off, which would basically mean that the government (read as, "taxpayers") are actually subsidizing such situations.

Good luck to all the displaced workers. I have a fond memory of being at the 'Cask back in 1997, and it involved sharing shots of Patron (I'm not a wine drinker), with two lovely young ladies. And, I was local enough to know several of the servers there, along with others whose businesses connected.

Easy. Chain restaurants are corporations and have easier access to larger amounts of capital which they can squander on high rents for a few years until they realize that they are insolvent. This drives out the real working businesses in favor of those with access to capital. The sad part is that the reason these chain restaurants have such easy access to capital is due to our dishonest monetary system that creates money out of nothing, loans it out, then it ends up in a bank account where the bank again creates money out of nothing and loans it out. This cheap, easy credit is a product of the Federal Reserve who sets interest rates at below market rate in order to increase investment. But really what it does is put hard working businesses out of business, replacing them with insolvent corporations, usually part of a fad which slowly fades into insolvency.

This is referred to as supply-side economics and it is the reason why we have poverty rates and the diminishing middle class. These people do not receive the same amounts of capital, and if they do they blow it on consumption rather than investments that offer a return. Therefore they do not benefit from the increased value of said capital before it is spent. When a corporation receives a large loan, they are able to spend the money while it is still valuable. As it circulates through the economy, money in general becomes less valuable. People on fixed income and with low wages are hurt the most, followed by the middle class.

Economic All Stars:

http://libertymaven.com/2009/02/11/napol...

(scroll down and watch the video)

Funny how FoxNews are the "good guys" now, and Keith Olbermann is a puppet for the establishment. Don't get played.

@loonpt

That somewhat explains how "Big Corporate" drives out "Mom and Pop", but even by your example, keeps commerical spaces filled (no matter the term). However, your explanation doesn't address the logic of keeping vacant units, over renting at a lower price.

Of course, I am assuming that your post was addressing mine.

Yes, that is a good point, and the answer is due to speculation on the part of SIMA and other demon spawns of the Federal Reserve that by keeping the rent high everywhere they will make the most amount of money in the short-term by attracting companies with access to large amounts of capital to squander.

They are essentially leaching capital (aka DEBT!) rather than leaching off the hard work and innovation of local entrepreneurs as any good property manager should.

Ultimately the answer is to let the free market work, tighten up credit (which will be painful in the short term), but will lower prices until things become affordable. All deflation means is that cash becomes more valuable, so that people on fixed incomes or wages or people with savings will actually be able to afford more.

The politicians in Washington are trying to put out a fire by dumping gasoline on it. The dollar is currently the reserve currency of the world, which means that nearly every country has a significant amount of reserves held in dollars. As we continue to devalue dollars, they will eventually become so worthless that other countries will begin selling them off which will result in massive hyper-inflation at home.

The only way to preserve your wealth through this mess is by owning tangible assets such as gold. Be sure to checkout the video I posted above and checkout EuroPacific Capital. Gold is nearly at an all time high, but I would wager it will be 3-5 times more valuable before the Obama brigade is done with us.

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."

-Thomas Jefferson

Keep in mind that the Federal Reserve is a private banking cartel. They are as Federal as Federal Express.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?c...

Many will argue that while the Federal Reserve is privately held, it is controlled by congress. I would ask you to refer to Congressman Ron Paul, vice-chairman of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.

"Congress, although not by law, essentially has given up all its oversight responsibility over the Federal Reserve. There are no true audits, and Congress knows nothing of the conversations, plans, and actions taken in concert with other central banks. We get less and less information regarding the money supply each year, especially now that M3 is no longer reported."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul370....

SIMA, your days are numbered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS6Y8lxig...

loopt

Thread highjacking is bad - just an FYI.

cj138 I'm sorry you don't understand economics, but what I am discussing is at the heart of this issue. Anything ELSE would be a hijack.

Perhaps you could attempt to wade through my posts again, and checkout the links.

See, cj138, everybody else here is trying to chop of the weeds at the base, not realizing the roots are still alive and growing underneath. I am the only one here who is attempting to kill the disease by killing it at the roots. What I am talking about are institutions and regulations that created the housing bubble/crisis (if you don't think these are connected you are foolish), and in fact the entire financial crisis we are facing. These are government regulated agencies, this is not the free market, upon close inspection we can clearly see that government regulation is in fact the CAUSE of the crisis, not the solution.

These are the same institutions that created and prolonged the depression. These institutions counterfeit money for the rich, and this makes the poor poorer, the rich richer, yet many Democrats like Barney Frank will fight tooth and nail to keep these fraudulent institutions and regulations in place.

Think for yourself. Spread this important message. It is our monetary and banking system that causes these ills and many others. The mainstream media won't talk about it because the mainstream media is owned by six large corporations. Is this starting to make sense yet?

Do something, you can start tomorrow:

www.schiff2010.com

I rented two offices from SIMA Management for my business and so well know their practices... Their unbelievable landlording tactics are so horrific we split in the middle of the night, after putting up with conditions that have most landlords in jail . They are ruthless (and also stupid). It is SIMA management practices that are stripping downtown Santa Barbara of everything it used to be, and they need to get out of here.

Ugh, I don't want to hear loonpt's "big picture" tirade either. I fully recognize the financial sector's role in our current mire and I myself identify much with libertarian philosophy, but unleashing a philosophizing manifesto in this thread is eye-glazing. I'm sure you've pasted similar (if not identical posts) on other threads and I'd prefer not to have to read a one-size-fits-all rant . Thanks.

Yea,
Huh,
Sima Sucks,
Huh,
Huh

Do not condemn the landlord too fast. Here are the facts behind the closing of the Wine Cask:
1. Management ineptitude;
2. Decline of tourism due to general factors such as economy and local factors such as the invasion of the homeless;
3. Competition (see 1. above)
It is the job of the landlord to maximize its rent rolls, not to rent to whomever the citizenry would rather see occupying its premises. If all of us were eating out at our favorite restaurants they wouldn't close, would they? So, do not ask the landlord not to rent to paying tenants at the highest rents possible - patronize the places you want to sufficient extent that they can stay in business.

All good things must come to an end.

The cutting down of a eucalyptus tree is symbolic
of outsiders lack of respect for history.

Besides, the menu under the new owners was mediocre.
After 20 years of great wine cask memories, we will
all miss the wine cask!

Michael Mescall