NO WORRIES, CLAIMS LEVY:

Developer Bill Levy put out a press release stating that
construction on his controversial time-share condo project on lower
State Street will begin within 60 days, even though one of his key
financers – Mountain Funding – has issued a notice of default
charging that Levy and his partners are delinquent on a loan to the
tune of $35 million. That loan was issued last year to secure the
property, which may be cleared to construct 62 Ritz-Carlton
time-share units. Levy’s longtime partner Roy Millender stated he
had hoped Mountain Funding would work out its differences with Levy
privately, but pledged that the legal dispute “will in no way
affect the construction financing or the progress and completion of
the Ritz-Carlton Club in Santa Barbara.” Levy has caused City Hall
a great deal of anxiety about the project’s financial viability
many times already, repeatedly missing deadlines to begin
construction and seeking extensions. According to Community
Development Director Paul Casey, if construction does not begin by
December 12, no more extensions are legally permissible and the
project will officially be dead.