Standing in front of the old armory on Canon Perdido Street on Wednesday, Santa Barbara Unified Superintendent Hilda Maldonado recounted her first job in high school: the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit (a youth program, to be clear).
“I think back on what opportunities I had to prepare for a career,” she said. She gestured to the armory behind her, currently a piece of underutilized district property. “When we look at this site, we see more than a facility — it’s a bridge to a high-wage and high-skill career.”
Right now, the 4.7-acre site is being primed to become a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center for the district, completing an education corridor on the Eastside between Santa Barbara High School and Santa Barbara Junior High. It’s a project nearly a decade in the making, starting when the district acquired the property in 2018.
The armory is currently used as a hub for district maintenance and operations, but it is envisioned to house 20-24 large CTE classrooms, each designed for a specific career-track.
What exactly those classrooms will hold, however, is up to the community. The district is now seeking suggestions on what to do with the place (see dates and times listed below).
The district’s architectural firm, 19-6 (whose predecessors were involved in building the armory in 1935), is completing topographic and geo-technical reports to ensure the “literal foundation of what we’re building” is sound, said architect Rosa Alvarado. “It’s an exceptional fit for an educational facility,” she said.
The rough timeline for the district’s armory project. | Credit: Courtesy 
SBUSD Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said the armory will be a bridge for students to high-wage, highly-skilled careers. | Credit: Callie Fausey 
The district’s COO, Steve Venz, said they want the CTE Center at the armory to feed into industries in Santa Barbara. | Credit: Callie Fausey 
Architect Rosa Alvarado said community input will be used to shape the conceptual design of the new CTE center at the armory. | Credit: Callie Fausey 
SBUSD Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said the armory will be a bridge for students to high-wage, highly-skilled careers. | Credit: Callie Fausey 
SBUSD Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said the armory will be a bridge for students to high-wage, highly-skilled careers. | Credit: Callie Fausey 
The armory at 700 E. Canon Perdido Street is on track to becoming a new Career and Technical Education Center for the Santa Barbara Unified School District. | Credit: Callie Fausey
Following community listening sessions and surveys, the firm will take the community’s “needs, dreams, and ideas” and turn them into a conceptual design — including mapping out space for programs, and putting together preliminary floor plans, master site plans, and cost estimates.
“We want the CTE pathways to feed into industries here in Santa Barbara,” said the district’s Chief Operating Officer Steve Venz.
“This project represents an incredible opportunity to fill a gap between our classrooms and the workforce. Our students will benefit the most, but we cannot build this bridge alone,” said Superintendent Maldonado. “We need to hear from our community to ensure this facility complements our existing successful programs while meeting the future needs of our local economy.”
According to the district, it is seeking feedback on a variety of potential uses for the site, including state-of-the-art CTE labs, workforce housing for staff, and more.
Information gathered during this spring feedback window will be presented to the Board of Trustees this fall to guide the formal schematic design, the district said.
Community Listening Tour Schedule (6-7:30 p.m.):
- April 16: La Colina Junior High
- April 21: Goleta Valley Junior High
- April 27: La Cumbre Junior High
- May 12: Santa Barbara Junior High
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