Potential Naples Buyer Heading Before Supes

All parties involved in the tentative sale of Naples will be at the Santa Barbara County supervisors’ meeting on 7/2. Though signs indicate the matter won’t be addressed until after the board comes back from its summer break on 8/20, next week’s meeting marks the first public appearance of the Gaviota property’s prospective new owner and would-be developer, Phil Ram (a.k.a. Dilip Ram). Ram, who is believed to be in escrow to purchase Naples from First Bank for just shy of $50 million with much of his financial backing coming from the investment hedge fund Cerberus, might be familiar to folks around Santa Barbara for his role in the Mesa condo development project known as the Estates at Vista del Oceano. The supervisors have to decide if Ram (who has racked up more than a baker’s dozen of bankruptcies over the years) and company have the financial wherewithal and reputation to deliver the various conditions of approval associated with the Naples project.