Entitlements done, Investec finds $10M exit from Carpinteria property
The 12-acre residential portion of Carpinteria’s Lagunitas mixed-use project recently sold for $10 million, a move the seller says frees it up to focus on what it does best. “I am not as enamored with building as I am with entitling and getting things approved,” Ken Slaught, president of Investec Real Estate Companies, told the Read More →
Downtown’s starring role: Atascadero will get new movie theater, retail center
Atascadero’s small-town days may be numbered. The city of 28,000 people has several large developments in the pipeline, including its $13 million Colony Square project, which would bring 14,000 square feet of retail space and 10 movie screens to the currently theater-less city. Plans for a 130,000-square-foot Wal-Mart are about halfway through the environmental review Read More →
Editorial: Ventura on right road to revive auto mall
Apart from a half-abandoned exurban subdivision, there’s no clearer physical symbol of the Great Recession than the American auto mall. Carmakers both foreign and domestic have shut dealerships from coast to coast, leaving acres of empty concrete. The effects in the Tri-Counties have been relatively mild, but there are still plenty of vacant auto mall Read More →
Betting on a windfall: A new kind of project for Paso Robles
Windfall Farms may one day be to Paso Robles what Montecito is to Santa Barbara — an enclave for millionaire retirees and the weekend wealthy. But the San Luis Obispo County version has a few extra country charms thrown in, like alfalfa fields, grazing cattle, wine grapes and Kentucky-style horse facilities. The 724-acre Windfall Farms Read More →
FPPC approves Copeland fine
California’s Fair Political Practices Commission fined San Luis Obispo businessmen James and Thomas Copeland and banker David Booker $80,000 at its Oct. 14 meeting for violating the state Political Reform Act. The Copelands and Booker are accused of staging a secret and illegal campaign in 2006 to block rancher Ernie Dalidio’s development plans. The five-member Read More →
