Bill Levy — the onetime real estate wunderkind of downtown Santa Barbara, a gifted listener, a political genius, and a deeply polarizing business partner — died February 24 of a fast-acting blood cancer. He was 76 years old.
Although Levy had retreated from the limelight many years ago, he is singularly responsible for assembling the properties and securing the approvals needed for what has since become La Entrada on the lower two blocks of State Street. Levy, an accomplished high school golfer who grew up in Hope Ranch, was the first to envision that the then-fleabag California Hotel and surrounding environs — former car lots and gas stations — could be transformed into a high-end destination.
But by the time Levy — who at one time controlled many marquee properties, such as El Paseo — had secured the necessary city permits, he had exhausted the patience and trust of several key investors; these feuds boiled over into protracted litigation that slowed him down. These delays, coupled with an economic recession, forced Levy into bankruptcy in 2006. The real estate he amassed and the permits he secured would ultimately be sold in 2012 to Los Angeles–based developer Michael Rosenfeld, who specialized in making silk purses out of the sows’ ears of distressed properties and opened the Hotel Californian at the site in 2017.
Levy is survived by his wife, daughter, and granddaughter, as well as his sister and sisters-in-law. A memorial service will be held March 13 at the Old Mission Santa Barbara.
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