Developer Levy Named Tax Delinquent

Santa Barbara developer Bill Levy achieved a degree of statewide notoriety, making it onto the California State Franchise Board’s list of top 250 tax delinquents. According to the Board’s web site, Levy and his wife Laura owe the state $882,000 in back taxes and penalties. Once one of Santa Barbara’s more high-flying business figures, Levy fortunes crashed and burned on his plans to build a small community of luxury condominiums on the lowest two blocks of State Street.

Although Levy managed to secure the necessary political permits to build the project – once dubbed Entrada de Santa Barbara – he failed to obtain the necessary financing and was forced to declare bankruptcy two years ago. Since then, Levy has been sued by several creditors, and his controversial development proposal has been taken over by his chief creditor, Mountain Funding. Efforts by Mountain Funding to sell the project have thus far failed, and the finance company has authorized the minimum construction effort needed to keep the project permits alive.