Make Myself at Home: Hip Haley Mixed-Use Building

Haley Street is hopping. Long considered the slightly seedy side of Santa Barbara — in a city that really has no seedy side — the Haley Street corridor is now one of our most up-and-coming neighborhoods. Funkier than the Funk Zone, and cool as can be, this area from the freeway up to Cota and between State and Milpas streets is hot.

Stalwart establishments such as Rose Café and Home Improvement Center blend with new additions and reinvented buildings such as The Mill and The Sandbox, and tradespeople rub elbows with techies. I heard this neighborhood referred to years ago as SoCo (“south of Cota”), and more recently there’s been a push to brand it as The Lagoon District. No matter what you call it, this community, with its mix of existing commercial, office, industrial, and residential space, along with new construction on the horizon, is full of promise and potential.

At the high-profile corner where one-way Anacapa Street turns left onto Haley sits a two-story yellow building with green awnings over two commercial spaces on the first floor and more discreet residential spaces tucked above. I’ve driven and walked past this corner easily a thousand times, but I had never gone inside until last week.

One half of the downstairs space is occupied by Pedego Electric Bikes, the sole Santa Barbara distributor for a popular brand of electric bicycles. I stopped in and admired the bevy of pastel bicycles and met Pat, the owner of the store. He said he loves the location, and that they are busy as can be. Their motto is “hello, fun …,” and it seems like having fun is exactly what they are doing as they sell, rent, and introduce people to their brand of power-assisted bikes.

Pedego leases 100 East Haley; the adjacent space at 102 East Haley will soon be occupied by Santa Barbara Shoe Repair. Formerly De La Vina Shoe Repair, this business had to relocate due to a recent fire in their building near De la Vina and West Mission streets. Each of these approximately 1,100-square-foot units has its own front and rear entrance, and big windows facing Haley Street. They have stained concrete floors, newly remodeled bathrooms, and air-conditioning. The location at this high-traffic corner ensures that these businesses will always have great downtown visibility.

Between the two commercial units, a wide staircase leads up to the apartments on the second floor. On a landing are four doorways that lead to four almost-identical one-bedroom units, two in the front of the building and two in the back. They are currently rented out fully furnished, including the kitchen appliances, bedroom and living-room furniture, and even flat-screen televisions.

The apartments are a mix of vintage style and modern conveniences. In each unit, the front door opens onto a living room, large enough for an eat-in dining area, with windows looking out over downtown. Three of the four apartments have gorgeous oak hardwood floors, and one is carpeted. From the living room, one door opens onto an efficient kitchen while another leads to the bedroom, which has cedar-lined closets. The bathroom is through the bedroom in each unit, and contains my favorite old-world feature: an iron claw-foot bathtub. The windows in each apartment are new dual-pane windows to help reduce the downtown noise.

There is no off-street parking for this building, and no laundry. But whatever it may lack, it makes up for with its desirable location: one block from State Street, two blocks from the Funk Zone, and just a few blocks from the beach. The opportunity to own this mixed-use building at this high-profile corner location is a chance to put your stamp on the Haley Street action and help form the new heartbeat of Santa Barbara.

The building at 100 and 102 East Haley Street is for sale in Santa Barbara, listed by SiBelle Israel, broker associate, and Mitch Stark, commercial associate, of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties. Reach SiBelle at (805) 896-4218 or sibelle@sibellehomes.com. Reach Mitch at (805) 689-2429 or mitchell.s.stark@gmail.com. See more information on this property at 100easthaleystreet.com.