The drab, boxy buildings that stand at the corner of Broadway and Skyway Drive may be torn down by the end of the year, said Vernon Construction Inc. Business Operations Manager Julie Sanchez. Sanchez told the Sun that the Santa Barbara-based developing firm is currently awaiting final permitting to begin the demolition process and begin construction on the new Skyway Center.
The redevelopment project is aimed at revitalizing and transforming the center—which has housed everything from a nightclub to Element Church in the buildings over several decades—and will be the location of restaurants, retail, and office space, Sanchez explained.
“This is a really great piece of property that was not being all that it could be,” she said. “The vision is to have a showpiece on that corner, because it’s one of the most trafficked in the Santa Maria Valley, and it’s a gateway not just to Santa Maria but Orcutt as well.”
The Skyway Center will make more than 48,000 square feet available to local and national chain stores and restaurants, according to a report released by Vernon Construction Inc. The company is currently negotiating with a well-known national chain restaurant to take one of the larger spaces, Sanchez said.
The center also has two “pads”—those are smaller spaces around 2,000 square feet—available that are zoned for drive-through access, Sanchez said. Far from being a strip mall where locals come and go quickly, the vision for the Skyway Center is that of a community hub where locals feel comfortable spending more time, Sanchez said.
“It’s a place people will want to go to eat, gather, linger, and shop,” she said.
Vernon Construction Inc. is also developing the Bradley Village project on Bradley Road in Orcutt, Sanchez said, and the new Skyway Center is a project that will try to meet the level of residential development attained at Bradley Village, but in the commercial sphere.
Architect Paul Porier and Associates of Santa Barbara designed the Skyway Center, Sanchez explained, and Stantec’s Santa Maria office contributed the engineering work to the project so far. Sanchez said the Vernon Construction Inc.’s CEO, Bradley Vernon, is committed to sourcing as much expertise and labor locally as possible.
“The construction industry, particularly in the Santa Maria Valley, was hard hit by the recession, and to see it come back is a good thing,” she said. “If you look around there is an awful lot of development going on in the Santa Maria Valley today, and we’re just happy to be a part of it.”
This article appears in Nov 5-12, 2015.
