El Mirasol an Outlier

I read with interest the June 1 article, “The ‘Build It Tall’ Fallacy.” It happens that my late father, William Alexander, was the developer who proposed the El Mirasol Hotel on the site where Alice Keck Park now sits. I think we can all agree that it is a good thing that project never saw the light of day!

But what I would like to do, for the record, is say a bit about my father’s projects that did see the light of day. For instance, he built the first condominium project in Santa Barbara, Villa Capri Aire at 2030 State (built in 1955), still a great place to live! Then there was: Villa Constance (2621 State St., 1959), Villa Miradero (Miradero Dr. and Alamar, 1963), Miradero Apartments (1964). His final project in 1973, was the beautiful Coronado Circle development of homes, in Montecito. 

Yes, there was certainly a misstep (which he was actually relieved didn’t happen), but I think overall, his contributions to Santa Barbara are substantial and noteworthy.