The El Encanto Hotel was approved for $45 million toward reconstruction on Tuesday, November 15.
Built in the early 1920s, the building entertains a rich history and has a reputation as a landmark in the city. El Encanto sits on Santa Barbara's "riviera," a premiere part of the city that perches up on the Santa Ynez mountain range foothills in an idyllic setting that looks over Santa Barbara's Spanish-tiled rooftops and the entire coastline (Our Mission Ridge listing is also on the riviera, nearby the hotel).
The historic building has been closed for construction for almost eight years now, halted by adjustments in plans, concerned neighbors, and necessary bureaucratic approval processes.
Hopefully, the $45 million will revive the project, propelling it to open by late 2012, as the developers have projected. Still, the city of Santa Barbara, especially, is known for taking its homeowner's complaints seriously, even in the face of multimillion dollar commercial proposals. Ideally, the riviera neighborhood and El Encanto's developers will agree on a way to restore the famed hotel.
