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Next month, Michael Towbes will mark his 80th birthday with a fundraising party for the theater he helped renovate.

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Local philanthropist to turn 80

By RAY ESTRADA — June 13, 2009

Next month, one of the South Coast’s top entrepreneurs and philanthropists will mark his 80th birthday with a fundraising party for the theater he helped renovate.

As Michael Towbes prepares to start his ninth decade, he shared some thoughts about the area’s economy with the Daily Sound in an exclusive interview at his Victoria Street office.

“Overall, I think we’re still in a very tenuous situation,” Towbes said of the nation’s economy, which started a downward spiral last year in the midst of the real estate meltdown, bank failures and stock market decline.  “I think there are some signs that the worst is behind us, but I  don’t think we are really on an upward trend. I think the worst is getting worse a little less rapidly.”

Speaking frankly, Towbes said he doesn’t share the all optimism some observers have expressed about the economic pendulum swinging back the other way.

“But we’re pretty close to the bottom,” he said. “But I don’t see a rapid recovery. ”

Is this recession the worst economic crisis the country has ever faced? Maybe not, Towbes said, but we won’t see a time like three years ago when the economy was on an upward swing. It took World War II to bring the country out of the Great Depression, he said, but this time it’s important not to panic.

As for federal stimulus efforts, Towbes said he does not think much of  that money will come this way, with the exception of some public works projects in California. The stimulus will help the auto industry, but probably not the real estate market.

Home prices dropped between 40 and 50 percent overall, but on the South Coast are down only about 20 percent. For things to go back the way they were a few years ago, “Homes would have to double in price,” Towbes said. “I just don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

Even though recent data shows the foreclosure rate easing in troubled places such as Santa Maria, Towbes said he believes another wave of  foreclosures is on the way. Banks imposed a moratorium on foreclosures, but that will be ending, he said. However, he added, “Home prices will bounce back someday in Santa Maria.”

Looking back

After he finished his stint in the Navy as an engineer at Point Mugu building platforms for missile testing, Towbes started his first company in 1956 in Los Angeles with his mentor, Eli Luria. Towbes later moved to Santa Maria when he heard of the  need for housing on the Central  Coast. In 1960, he became a Montecito resident with his  first wife, Gail who passed away in 1996.

The Towbes Group owns 1.3 million square feet of commercial real estate and almost 2,000 multi-family residential units from Lompoc and Santa Maria to Ventura and in Westlake Village. The company also runs four shopping centers. Towbes’ operations includes a real estate investment fund called Towbes Capital Partners.

In April,  Towbes unveiled Sumida Gardens, a 200-unit affordable housing complex in Goleta.

Towbes started Montecito Bank  & Trust 34 years ago. The bank just opened a Ventura branch this month. It has grown to a $770 million regional financial institution with eight branches.

Montecito Bank & Trust also operates a Wealth Management Division and annually gives $1 million to more than 100 nonprofit groups.

Coming soon

On the horizon, Towbes said he’s planning to start construction on a 108-unit apartment complex in Ventura late this year. Other projects on his drawing board include a 100-unit complex in Goleta, a 70,000-square-foot office park near Foothill Boulevard and off Highway 154, and a 25,000-square-foot building addition for the Goleta-based firm ATK, which made the Mars Rover for NASA.

“We have a number of things on the board in Santa Maria, but we’re just waiting to see what the economy does,” he said.

A boon to the economy will be the reconstruction of some 300 homes destroyed by recent fires. While it was a tragedy that the fire consumed those house, Towbes said, most of them will be rebuilt and that means a steady stream of jobs and other commerce.

“That will be our stimulus,” he said.

In these troubled times, Towbes’ advice to business owners is: “Don’t panic, take a  step back and try to look at things objectively and not emotional, which is not easy to do.” He said his training as an engineering allows him to always look for alternatives and weigh the consequences of each one, even if it means painful layoffs.

However, Towbe added, “The most important capital that any company has is the people who work for it.”

South Coast uniqueness

“Santa Barbara is in a unique position compared to most of the country,” he said. “I think we probably suffer less that most other areas. We don’t have quite the extremes in terms of the economy … It’s not all roses here, but could hardly think of a  better place to be.”

The South Coast is lucky to  have the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the high-tech spin-offs it has inspired, said Towbes, who is a Princeton and MIT graduate school alum. UCSB’s payroll and the spin-off firms help buoy the South Coast economy.

In a number of interviews over the years, Towbes has said he wants to be remembered mainly for his philanthropy,  which has taken up a great deal of his time even with his still busy work schedule.

Most recently, he guided the $60 million-fund-raising effort to renovate the Granada, the State Street theater, which opened a few years before he was born. But his charity work over the years has involved a variety of  groups including the Cottage Hospital Foundation, Jewish Federation, Lobero Theater Foundation, Santa Barbara City College, UCSB and classical radio station KDB.

A 6 p.m. July 15 reception at Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort will start “It’s a Wonderful Life,” an evening of dinner and music and Towbes’ birthday celebration to raise more funds for the Granada’s renovation. Tickets are $300 per person. For  more information, call the Granada at 899-3000.

Towbes' tale

• 1929 born in Washington, D.C.

• 1953 starts three-year stint as Navy engineer at Point Mugu.

• 1956 starts his first company in Los Angeles.

• 1957 moves to Santa Maria.

• 1960 resides in Montecito.

• 1975 starts Montecito bank &  Trust.

• 1996 first wife, Gail, dies.

• 2005 marries second wife, Ann.

• July 15, 2009, 80th birthday celebration and fundraiser for renovation of the Granada.

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Towbes Group Apartments : 6/13/2009

We rented an apartment owned by the Towbes Group and the managers were awful and we were treated horribly and accused of all sorts of things we didn't do and we could not get help from anyone at the Towbes Group. They stick up for the managers. They don't believe the tenants. It was horrible living there under those conditions. They evicted us and kept our security deposit even though we left the apartment in new condition and even the pastor and his wife came to witness how clean the apartment was when we moved out and they could not believe they said it was in need of cleaning and kept our money.

Anonymous

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It's a Wonderful Life- To Celebrate Michael Towbes' 80th and to benefit the Granada Capital Campaign : 6/14/2009

The July 15th Celebration will be held at the Doubletree Resort. Not the Granada. Please call the Granada for tickets: 899.3000.

It's A Wonderful Life Team

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It's a Wonderful Life If You Are Michael Towbes.... : 6/14/2009

.... but it's not so hot if you are one of his tenants!

Sylvia

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When you attack the wealthy... : 6/15/2009

The poor only become poorer. "annually gives $1 million to more than 100 nonprofit groups." Say good bye to this type of philanthropy that most of us expect and feel entitled to in the socialist Obama generation.

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: 6/15/2009

"he guided the $60 million-fund-raising effort to renovate the Granada, the State Street theater" Do you think the government will be in the business of theatre renovation when wealthy people like Towbes no longer exist because of being punished by the government for making too much money??

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: 6/15/2009

i had a similar apartment renting fiasco...and the towbes group didn't own the complex. Nearly everyone i know who has rented a place has had a similar story. No need to blame towbes for your misfortune.

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