Edhat Staff
Source: City of Goleta
City Hall is in the final stretch of securing a permanent home. The City is in escrow to buy the entire two-story building where we are currently renting at 130 Cremona Drive. Once the transaction is complete, the City will acquire a portion of an existing 5.3 acre parcel. That portion of land will become its own 2.3 acre parcel as a result of the transaction and include the two-story building which is approximately 39,718 square feet.
The City currently occupies about 66% of that space and will be undergoing a space needs analysis to determine how to best use the additional 13,323 square feet. Future plans for the building will include the installation of an elevator. The purchase price under the original agreement was $11,515,400, however the actual purchase price will be slightly less at about $11,476,700 as a result of a property condition credit to the City.
The acquisition will put the City in the position of owning a sizable asset as an owner rather than the obligation of lease payments owed to a private property owner as a tenant. The cost of purchasing versus leasing is estimated to save the City about $64,000 in the first year and the savings would continue to increase in the future. While there are a few details that need to be ironed out, escrow is expected to close by November 15, 2019. We will keep you posted and hope to officially announce 130 Cremona Drive as our permanent home soon.
Completely appropriate building for a city that allows nearly uncontrolled building of the blandest, most mismatched architectures. Right next door is a beautiful spanish style office building that they had multiple chances to rent and remained in their generic cube farm.
They pay great salaries and buy buildings, they must be raking in $ from the new stores and hotels. Lucky for them!
and then leaves old town looking like a dump.
Old town has a lot of potential. But Goleta isn’t focused on revitalizing anything existing. It would rather build new styrofoam-corbel-and-mish-mashed-stone big box post modern malls with giant parking lots at their core then engage with anything existing.