Deano’s Last Slice?

What a bummer! We used to go in there on Fri nites after racing @ the BMX track. Always a good time, the pizza was actually good. Another casualty of higher rents. Joining on facebook as we speak! :) henry

Agree with hank. Been a while, but Deano's is a great place to go after playing city league. Love the Linguica!

I wonder if Giovanni's, which opened across the street last year, has affected Deano's business?

Can they re-incorprate and take on some partners...like a co-op? Or perhaps one of the suppliers can cover them for a bit...just until they catch up? What about some sort of State funding for the loss of business due to the developer?
I see store front after store frony,empty on State street. I counted 11 empty spaces on one city block today.
Someone needs to jump in and do something.
We are looking like a ghost town taken over by BIG brother.
I love Dean-O's just the best family pizza place in SB!

The Facebook page is over 3400 members now. Investec should be ashamed. I had heard that they are charging them $11,000 a month rent? Is that possible?

More of America killing the small businessman.

Deano's is a Santa Barbara Institution. Don't ever let Investec buy Harry's - they will want to fleece them out of business too.

Maybe Investec will realize that "What goes around, comes around".. Lower their rent- you have several vacant stores already in the Mesa shopping center.

Amazing that the best pizza in SB is closing down.. it's not even very expensive relative to many of the other places around.

Joining facebook is good, but if you really want to help go give them some business!!

So Investec bought the property near the top of the market, overpaid for the remodel, and now the tenants are paying for it.

This is just wrong... I agree with this comment "So Investec bought the property near the top of the market, overpaid for the remodel, and now the tenants are paying for it."

YEAH, and we lose an iconic hangout. I don't even like pizza that much, but Deano's is an institution.

Hey Investec, suck it up. Maybe they'll give you pizza for life if you do.

Greed will get Investec more empty buildings. There will now 2 with Hot Cookie maybe not far behind, followed by Foster's Freeze and Rite Aid? I don't see a line up of potential renters for empty spaces now, like the long time empty Heidi's Hall Mark space?
I don't believe Investec understands a tough economy or just doesn't care when it's all about the bottom line "profit"
Bah Humbug!

Looks like Grapevine all over again.

I see vacancies around town in numbers that did not seem to be present two years ago.

It would be nice if by law owners were mandated to report the vacancies of their properties, residential and commercial, so that this important economic information affecting us all could be known and posted on the web.

It would be useful information for owners and residents. Owners could get a sense of the market to establish attractive rates. Residents could know what the market was like so that they could have information to make an attractive offer. It would be useful for the citizens of the city to know what is happening in their city.

Except for those who want to hide this information for reasons of vanity or nobody tells me what to do with my property, it sounds like a winning idea for all parties concerned.

"Owners could get a sense of the market to establish attractive rates."

I hold two commercial leases for my two small retail stores in Santa Barbara and Goleta. I can tell you for sure, there is no "market" here in the classic economic sense, that is, one based on pure supply-and-demand. There is a sort of fraternal jousting among landlords to hold out for high rents, even by losing money on empty storefronts for years. The fear of being seen by the other big players as a "loser" for having offered a "below-market" rent is probably the most significant market force at play here. In a classical market, prices drop as demand drops and ability-to-pay drops. In this market here, prices go up because they can, because the landlords are not as concerned about getting paid as they are about getting their famously bloated "Santa Barbara rents."

Rents affect the market value of the commercial property, too. If Investec tries to sell its commercial property and the tenants are secure in 3-5 year terms at "under-market" rents, the value of the property is reduced. It's actually more attractive to (some) investors to buy an empty space at a high potential rent than a tenanted space at a "low" rent. Yes, the entire system is based on the "greater sucker" theory.

I am very lucky to have one landlord who actually wants small, local businesses as tenants, and pitches his rents accordingly. All his tenants are just that. Look around; usually, where ever you see a long-term small business, you see evidence of either: the business owns its building (e.g. Home Improvement Center, I believe) or, the landlord is accepting "under market" rent.

Investec
200 East Carrillo Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101-2144
(805) 962-8989

Lets all call and let them know that we're sick and tired of these guys forcing all of our small local businesses out of business! The video store, Heidi's Hallmark, and now Deano's. And that's just this property of theirs, I'm sure there are plenty of others. The old Heidi's location has been sitting empty since August! If they'd been more reasonable on their rent, they'd still have a tenant there and would be making money on the space. The greedy landlords in this town are ruining the vibe of SB. Can't they be reasonable and help these businesses stay a float until the economy turns around? Lets flood their phone lines!

welcome to corporate america! where you can get all the dominoes, mcdonalds, and taco bell you want. We have the Tostito's Fiesta bowl, the Target Center and Staples Center for our sporting events and everybody is wearing Levi's, Converse, and Haynes T shirts. Bigger, better corporations who own the music you buy, tell you what to watch and listen to, and know how to raise profits off the bottom line. Sexy, fun, feel better spending your money on bright, shiny things that always come with a logo just as fun as the actual product. In fact, everything is product. Coming soon, calvin klein toilet paper....

"if you really want to help go give them some business!" (loonpt is right on this)

investec is local....you would think they would care more and know better. Deano's closes and that spot will remain empty...you watch. Bad business and bad PR.

I asked this earlier ... can anyone comment on whether Giovanni's opening across the street has affected Deano's?

I understand Investec's role here, but was wondering if there are other factors as well. The article mentioned a slow-down in business due to the construction and I suspect the poor economy hasn't helped either.

According to an inside source, Giovanni's tried to buy Deano's out so that they could eliminate the primary competition in their new spot. Deano's turned them down. I believe the economy and the construction were the main reasons for their business decline, but the nail in the coffin is Investec's greed. For one locally owned company to show no compassion and foresight by bringing other companies to their knees and running them out is sickening. SHAME on Investec!!!! Apparently the line is out the door tonight at Deano's as the locals are flocking in to show their support. Too little too late? We can only hope not.

INVESTec. What part of this word, this name, do we not get? INVEST inherently implies that something is put in with the hopes of getting more out.

Greed is the world's only true perpetual motion machine. It continues shamelessly feeding on all it can while voraciously eating itself out of house, home, and eventually heart.

We live in a time where unprecedented toxic mindset insists every good and natural thing be utterly devastated unto waste. Welcome to America 2010, folks---home of the Bankrupturing Borg.