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Victor Maccharoli- Caruso will pay some $300 million for the Miramar Hotel project along with lenders ready to help if the global credit crisis doesn’t create yet another obstacle.

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Five seeking derelict Miramar cottages

By RAY ESTRADA — Dec. 1, 2009

The date for the start of construction at the planned Miramar beachfront resort is taking tiny steps toward reality with the pending removal of  what some consider “historic” buildings on the property, officials said this week.

A key step toward setting an exact a construction start date is the removal of more than a dozen cottages on the 16-acre Montecito  property that have not been used for a decade. But even though developer Rick Caruso wanted to start construction next month, it’s unclear if that deadline can be met, said Matt Middlebrook, vice president for government relations for Caruso Affiliated.

“No dates (are) set, though we are preparing application,” he said.

“We have five parties looking at 13-plus cottages. They are seeking permits to move them now,” Middlebrook said. “The window to request cottages has closed.”

Anyone who wanted to take the cottages had 90 days from Aug. 20 to apply to get them off the property. Developers of the planned 192-room Miramar resort, 1555 S. Jameson Lane, posted a notice that anyone who wants the derelict buildings can haul them away.

However, Errin Briggs, with the county planning department, said no one has yet finished any of the necessary applications with his agency to start relocating the structures. Briggs said it’s still possible to do so, but it appears the start of construction at the resort will not occur in January.

Los Angeles-based developer Caruso is spending some $300 million on the renovation. His company has been trying for several years to re-open the once-posh resort where the news media would attend press conferences when President Reagan split firewood at his Western White House ranch in the mountains above Santa Barbara.

After months of governmental hearings, lawsuits and appeals that eventually were dropped, Caruso’s company has been complying with some 90 conditions to start work on the property.

The conditions prevented the developer from razing the bungalow-style cottages that some county officials claim are historic buildings. Caruso Affiliated officials dispute that claim.

Applicants who want to relocate the structures have to assume all risk and liability for them, as well as costs for transportation and removal, including any county permits. Middlebrook said the buildings may contain asbestos and lead in their painted areas.

Caruso had hoped to start construction on the resort last January, after paying almost $1 million a month to maintain the site since he bought it three years ago.

After vociferous opposition to the size of his plan, Caruso said he was about to give up on the project in July 2008 when the Montecito Planning Commission’s approval was delayed by its opponents.

A month later, Caruso asked the commission to reject his plan so he could sell the property. However, the panel breathed life into the embattled project by reversing its earlier decision to require the developer to conduct a partial environmental impact review.

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved the final plan Dec. 11, which includes three restaurants, a spa, beach club, ballroom facilities and a boardwalk along Miramar Beach.

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