Saks Off 5th in Santa Barbara closing its store by March
Clothing retailer Saks Off 5th in Santa Barbara will be closing its store by March of 2018.
The store’s decision to not renew its lease will leave about 47,000 square feet of retail space behind at the corner of State and Carrillo streets.
With more than 40 retail vacancies on State Street already, brokers are hopeful that the property will be turned into a mixed-use project with retail uses on the bottom floor and apartments on the upper floors.
However, they said parking for such a venture could be problematic.
“This presents an opportunity to turn this building into a mixed-use project,” said Austin Herlihy, senior vice president at Radius Commercial Real Estate & Investments, who represents the owner of the building. “If that happens, you will have people living down here, going to dinner and spending. The city is the most receptive they have ever been to something like that.”
• Contact Robert Shutt at rshutt@pacbiztimes.com.
