For the past five years, the Rosewood Miramar has been a good neighbor. Aside from the hotel’s parking overflow into our neighborhood, we have had little to no complaints. But this new proposal is not going over well with us, the adjacent full-time residents. A billionaire and his associates are offering the undeniably good deal of low to moderate income (employee only) housing to Santa Barbara County under the caveat that they couple it with more boutique shops with luxury apartments above the proposed shops.
The 20,000 square feet of new shops would be in addition to the six existing, and the five to six currently under construction, bringing the total number of shopping stores at the hotel to at least 20 — putting the term “mini-mall” into context. (Although the number of shops has not been disclosed, it could be up to 20 new shops since the average size of boutique shops is 1,000 square feet).
The low-income housing is undeniably a great offer — one that we are not opposed to. It will allow 15 of Miramar’s current 300-plus staff an opportunity to live on site for a temporary amount of time. Per Caruso’s team, the lease would be six months to a year. (It is yet to be seen who this is really benefiting besides Caruso affiliates and how the residents will be chosen). Caruso is “coupling” this with the shops and apartments for monetary reasons. The billionaire developer states that they can’t do one without the other, financially.