Late bidder emerges to top offer for CKE
Hold the lettuce. The emergence of a late bidder has frozen private equity firm Thomas H. Lee’s plans to take Carpinteria-based CKE Restaurants private for $11.09 per share. The parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardees said April 7 it had received a late bid that was likely to top THL’s best offer, an announcement Read More →
Santa Barbara Borders building sold for $10M
The $10 million sale of 900 State St. in Santa Barbara makes for the largest commercial real estate deal in the city in more than two years and signals new life in the city’s downtown. The 38,000-square-foot retail space where Borders bookstore is currently housed was sold on April 5 to an affiliate of SIMA Read More →
Rice Mercado Depot project leads Santa Maria
In keeping with its push towards mixed-use, Santa Maria has plans in the works for a six-acre commercial, residential and manufacturing site at the northwest corner of Depot Street and Morrison Avenue. Developers say the ambitious Rice Depot Mercado project will be a mixed-use hub, drawing pedestrian residential traffic from the densely populated area around Read More →
Recovery may mean the old is new again
Meet the new economy. Same as the old economy. It may just be that the rest of the country looks a lot more like the Tri-Counties as we bid farewell to the Great Recession. By that I mean slow growth, more government, a wider gap between haves and have-nots and a financial system that Read More →
A long-running line
Few businesses are more intertwined with the history of their communities than San Luis Obispo insurance agency Morris & Garritano. Founded in 1885 on Higuera Street, the agency has changed names over the decades but has been in business in San Luis Obispo for 125 years. With about 75 employees today, the company has a Read More →
Foundations combine administrative forces
Two of the largest foundations in the tri-counties are joining philanthropic forces. Effective April 1, the Santa Barbara Foundation, the second largest foundation in the region with more than $200 million in assets at the beginning of March, and the Hutton Foundation, the 10th largest foundation with $80 million, will combine some of their grant-processing Read More →
