On a Thursday evening in mid-October, at the corner of State and Canon Perdido, children sang while five people in ceremonial hard hats turned dirt with silver-plated shovels. The building behind them used to be a Forever 21 and has stood empty for a long time. The Music Academy of the West is turning it into The Muse, a 20,000-square-foot, 200-seat hall for performance, teaching, practice and recording, topped with a rooftop lounge, as the Santa Barbara Independent reported.
The day before that groundbreaking, a petition to undo the City's State Street Master Plan was filed at City Hall. Those two events, one day apart, sum up downtown this fall. Whether cars ever return to the street is still undecided, while the 900 block is already being built, paid for by arts institutions whose combined spending comes close to the City's estimate for the entire master plan.
Where the plan stands right now
The City Council adopted the State Street Master Plan by a 6–1 vote on September 1, 2026, with Mayor Randy Rowse voting no. The design covers the 400 through 1300 blocks. It calls for 30-foot sidewalks on both sides, two 10-foot travel lanes down the center and retractable bollards at the intersections. The final version left out the hours when cars would be allowed, leaving that decision to a future Council.
The current estimate is more than $96 million. Of the $68 million in construction, $17.5 million is for moving utilities and $14.5 million is for stormwater work, which the master planner said would be needed with or without the plan. The money is not yet budgeted. On an accelerated schedule, construction could start in about 18 months and finish in three phases over six years. Tess Harris, the City's State Street master planner, put the dependency plainly at the September hearing:
"The pace of city action is going to set the pace for everything else. So how fast we decide to move is going to make this plan move quickly, or not."
That pace now depends on a petition. The Committee to Reopen State Street submitted 8,700 signatures. It needed 5,483 valid ones, and the City Clerk sent the petition sections to the County Elections Office for verification, Noozhawk reported on October 16. If the petition is certified, the Council has two choices. It can repeal the ordinance, or it can put the question to voters, either at a special election or on the November 2028 ballot. Outlets describe the petition's scope differently. Noozhawk and the Independent say it targets the plan's adoption. Edhat reported that it also targets the Title 31 extension that keeps the street closed to cars. For now, the closure continues under the Council's 5–2 vote on June 30, which keeps State Street car-free until the plan can be carried out.
A hundred million dollars of halls in a few hundred feet
The Independent described The Muse as the center of a "$100 million triangle" of new and renovated music and arts halls within a short walk of each other.
- The Muse, 901 State Street. A $55 million project from the Music Academy of the West. Founding contributor Cheryl Goldberg gave the $20 million that bought the building. The Academy is targeting a 2028 opening, and a few minor city permits are still needed before construction begins in earnest. KEYT reported that the plans include practice rooms, teaching studios and space for the Sing! youth choir and the Lehrer Vocal Institute.
- The Lobero Theatre, Canon Perdido Street. A $22 million renovation that was about to get underway as of October 20, adding a rooftop lounge of its own.
- SBIFF's McHurley Film Center, 916 State Street. A $21 million makeover of the old Fiesta Five by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. It opened to the public on February 4 with five screens and serves as the festival's year-round programming hub.
Set those figures side by side. The three halls add up to about $100 million. The City's estimate for the 400 through 1300 blocks, covering new sidewalks, lanes, bollards, pipes and programming is a little over $96 million. One of those sums is committed, and much of it is already spent. The other is waiting on a budget cycle and possibly a ballot. That gap between committed and pending money is where the Independent's own summary comes from: "With or without a master plan, the 900 block of State Street appears determined to happen on its own."
The 900 block, door by door
The anchors brought smaller shops with them, and the block now holds together as a walk.
- 901 State, The Muse site. The former Forever 21 corner at Canon Perdido, now under early construction for its 2028 opening.
- 913 State, World of Magic. The costume and magic retailer opened a smaller seasonal express shop here for the Halloween season. Edhat reported hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- 916 State, McHurley Film Center. Regular ticketed screenings with several showtimes a day, plus free Applebox family-film screenings, according to SBIFF's theater schedule.
- 920 State, The Game Seeker. The shop moved to this address last year and uses its interior for tables where customers can try games before buying.
- 922 State, SuperMoss. It celebrated its grand opening on March 19 with a Downtown Santa Barbara ribbon-cutting, and it sells moss artwork and gifts and offers gardening classes.
The shop owners describe the theater as the anchor. "I have a new neighbor who is an exciting new retailer and they are beautifully presented. We have the (McHurley) theatre next to me. This block is driving a lot of people to come but I want every block to be that way," Ingrid Estrella of The Game Seeker told KEYT in May. She also said the Saturday Farmers Market brings people into the area.
The blocks on either side are following the 900 block's lead
Estrella's wish for every block shows up in what opened nearby this year. Most of it arrived in the four blocks around the arts cluster.
To the south, Bombay Station 734 serves all-day Indian food at 734 State Street and held its ribbon-cutting on September 19. At 800 State, on the De la Guerra corner, a candy shop called the Confectionarium pushed its planned mid-August opening back. Noozhawk reported in August that it would offer bulk candy, nostalgic and local treats and interactive features. Sandbar reopened this year with a redesigned interior and a new menu.
To the north, Silvergreens Café opened at 1001 State Street in the Amazon building at Carrillo, serving salads, sandwiches, Renaud's pastries and Handlebar coffee. In the same block, Chase Restaurant has reopened at its longtime location with indoor and outdoor seating after recovering from a fire. Around the corner on Canon Perdido, the Blue Owl was waiting on approval for a new parklet that would add about 25 seats. Edhat's Q2 2026 roundup also listed A Royal Suite at 1109 State and Gallery Santa Barbara at 1220 State.
The clearest sign of the arts pull comes from the 1200 block. In a statement published by Siteline, Pascucci's owner, Laura Knight, said she will retire the Pascucci name at 1230 State Street and open a new restaurant "more suitable for the Theater Arts district," serving lighter fare for "after show" patrons, with daily rotating specials and homemade soups. The liquor license transfer was completed in early August, with the rebrand and remodel to follow. A restaurant is reshaping its menu around showtimes before the street's layout is even settled.
Some addresses went the other way. Satellite S.B. closed its restaurant at 1117 State Street on September 13 after ten years. Its wine shop, wine club, tastings and events are continuing at The Factory, 616 E. Haley Street.
What the vote decides, and what is already settled
The referendum concerns the street's framework and whether cars come back. The master plan has also been a dividing line in this fall's mayoral race, the Independent noted. How wide the sidewalks get, when bollards drop and how quickly the City finds $96 million all depend on what comes next.
Some things will be in place whatever the outcome. The McHurley is already showing films. The Muse broke ground with its building purchased and a 2028 target. The Lobero renovation was set to start this fall. Across the street at Paseo Nuevo, the Council approved a development agreement under which Yardi Systems becomes the mall's majority owner and turns the former Macy's into corporate offices. The former Nordstrom at 817 State Street is planned as 80 to 112 rental homes, with 10 percent at moderate-income rents. The City's project page lists formal entitlement applications for summer or fall 2026 and a construction start targeted for 2027. Office workers and new residents a block from the theaters would mean foot traffic on weekdays, in addition to the Saturday market crowd Estrella described.
Through 2028, the practical map of downtown Santa Barbara looks like this. The center sits between Canon Perdido and Carrillo. Its evenings are built around a five-screen cinema, with a 200-seat music hall on the way. The blocks to the south and north are filling in toward it.
For owners of downtown and Riviera homes, the location of downtown's cultural center affects how a property is presented and valued, and right now that center is the 900 block. If you'd like to talk through how these changes bear on a sale, a purchase or a long hold near State Street, Neyshia Go and The Go Group welcome the conversation. Schedule a Confidential Consultation.
