New Warehouse and R&D Building Proposed Near Funk Zone Moves Forward

The City of Santa Barbara Architectural Board of Review on March 2, 2026, voted to move forward with a proposal to construct a new warehouse and research and development (R&D) building near the Funk Zone and East Beach.

The project includes the demolition of a 79-space surface parking lot to construct a 32,877-square-foot building at 2 North Calle Cesar Chavez.

The structure is planned as a Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) building, with plaster as the dominant exterior material. The first floor will house a 20,460-square-foot warehouse with a mezzanine, while the second floor will include R&D and office space totaling 7,011 square feet.

The building will sit on a concrete plinth, or a raised base. 

The finished floor was raised about a foot higher than the norm for insurance purposes due to local flooding concerns, even though the site is not located in a flood zone, the applicant told the board.

The design incorporates perimeter raised planters intended to aid stormwater management while also helping to visually “settle” the building and break up the height of the plinth for pedestrians.

To further manage water on-site, the parking area will have permeable pavers and the public sidewalk will have permeable concrete. 

Additional features include a roof deck, solar photovoltaic canopies, and a new entry canopy to highlight the building entrance and provide weather protection. 

The project will now move to the Planning Commission. 

Debate Over Trees 

The fate of the three existing Koelreuteria trees was a point of major contention. 

The project includes a six-foot sidewalk and a four-foot parkway. The trees are currently located on the opposite side of the planned sidewalk and “right in line” with the proposed edge of the sidewalk. 

While expressing a strong intent to save the trees, the board and the applicant said the Transportation Department wanted to remove them to create a standard parkway.

To save the trees, the applicant suggested meandering the sidewalk around the trees and requested a 12-inch encroachment into the frontage zone. 

The board ultimately agreed with the applicant, with one member stating that the Transportation Department should be informed that the board unanimously supported saving the trees.

Concern Over Building Height

Board member Trey Anderson was the only dissenting vote against the project, as he felt the building’s height was “scaled up too much” and lacked a human-centric design. 

He characterized the overall feel of the building as “jumbo,” noting that elements like the eight-foot-tall windows would make it appear over-scaled. He said the building appeared to be designed for manufacturing equipment rather than for the “human experience.”

Stating that the plinth exacerbated the building’s height, he criticized the experience of walking next to what he perceived as a high concrete wall. 

In his final remarks, he said the plaster-heavy design did not align with the “industrial feeling” of the neighborhood, expressing concern that using such a large amount of plaster would make the facade look “too busy.”