After a six-year hiatus, Paul Orfalea is returning to public life with a very big splash, investing large quantities of legal tender on an 11,000-square-foot State Street property that he’s betting will morph into a fecund spawning ground for socially minded and eco-conscious new enterprises. The project — known as the Impact Hub — will provide table space, meeting rooms, and a large performance area for entrepreneurially minded creative types who, if all goes according to plan, will achieve a great synergistic buzz by working in close proximity to one another. Space can be secured in this high-octane petri dish for as little as $5-$10 daily.
Orfalea famously started the first Kinko’s in Isla Vista in 1970, sold what became an intergalactic empire of copy shops to Federal Express many years later, and bought 20 rental properties in Isla Vista. In Santa Barbara, Orfalea created and operated a veritable philanthropic juggernaut — the Orfalea Foundation — in partnership with his ex-wife, Natalie. In 15 years, the Orfaleas reportedly donated a staggering $175 million, mostly to foundations and nonprofits operating in Santa Barbara County.
Orfalea was lightning personified, a brilliant slave to an always careening curiosity. Natalie — and a team of get-stuff-done assistants — helped harness, channel, and direct that energy and wealth. The foundation was scheduled to begin sunsetting in 2009, the couples’ divorce perhaps hastening its final curtain call. The question buzzing around local philanthropic circles has been, “What’s Paul doing?”