Architectural Board Not Satisfied with 443-Unit La Cumbre Plaza Project

The developers behind a proposed 443-unit rental housing development on the southern portion of La Cumbre Plaza (the former Sears store and auto center) brought an updated set of plans before the City of Santa Barbara Architectural Board of Review on November 10, where the project received a strong slashing from boardmembers who said the design needed much more work in order to fit Santa Barbara’s long-held Spanish-style aesthetic.

Project applicant Dave Eadie of Kennedy Wilson real estate, landscape architect Scott Baker, and RC Alley of AO Architects presented the updated plans and a tentative parcel map for the project, which includes hundreds of units to be built on a 9.4-acre site, along with a common outdoor areas, a multi-use path along Arroyo Burro Creek, and a 10,000-square-foot amenities building.

An earlier version of the project came before the city’s design boards in March and April of this year for a pre-application review. Since then, the developers have made changes to the plans in response to comments made by members of the Architectural Board of Review and Planning Commission. Alley, the lead architect, said the overall vision was improved to address comments that the first version was too complicated. 

The designers tried to break up the massing wherever possible, to step down the building with the land’s natural topography and to simplify or remove repetitive elements such as the three-story archways included in the previous version. The new renderings reveal the typical red-tile roof and white walls indicative of Santa Barbara’s Spanish Colonial Revival style, but overall the Architectural Board of Review felt that it was lacking in authenticity and had the institutional feel of a corporate office or hospital.

The project’s architects said they were going for a more “contemporary version” instead of the traditional Spanish style. “It’s not a specific representation of Santa Barbara style,” Allen said. “With a building of this scale, it’s very hard to translate the exact details of a Santa Barbara–style project.”

Boardmembers also questioned the decision to build the amenities building — which will also serve as the leasing office — in a Midwest farmhouse style with large, sloping gable roofs. Vice Chair Dennis Whelan asked if there was any reference for the building, which the project designers explained was intended to pay homage to the site’s original use as a dairy farm (though they did not use any photos of local dairy farms as references). The ownership group, Riviera Dairy Products, is another cheeky reference to the same dairy farm history.

Boardmembers asked the designers to go back and study the historic California dairy farm structures, which had a low-slung roof style different from the taller Midwest versions. Vice Chair Whelan said the architects should lean on more reference photos to ensure that the farmhouse building and Spanish colonial aesthetic were true to the region. 

“This misses the point of what genuine Santa Barbara architecture is,” Whelan said. “I’d be more convinced about your authenticity if you demonstrated your understanding of Santa Barbara architecture by those inspirational photos.”

The board unanimously decided to continue the project indefinitely, asking the applicant to go back and study the overall language of the architecture to make it more in line with Santa Barbara’s style. Specifically, the board asked that any future designs include connecting courtyards, a paseo, and a more cohesive idea for the farmhouse amenities building.

The applicant will also need to return with a revised plan on creating partial story poles. Originally, the developers asked for an exemption from story poles, but the board recommended that poles be erected on at least the two corners of the project on La Cumbre Road.

“There’s a ways to go, but I’m really confident that you guys are on the right track and are gonna be able to figure this out,” said Boardmember Will Sofrin.

The project at the former Sears building — still in the pre-application phase — is one of two major developments proposed on opposite ends of La Cumbre Plaza.

A larger, 680-unit project, called “The Neighborhood at State and Hope,” is further ahead in the planning process, with an application that was deemed fully complete in February 2025. The State and Hope project can begin to make its way through the planning process, though it isn’t expected to begin construction until after the Macy’s lease is up in 2028.