Santa Barbara investment firm moving offices

Santa Barbara Asset Management’s headquarters will be moving from 200 E. Carrillo Street to the fifth floor of the El Paseo building, according to a joint press release by Hayes Commercial Group and Radius Group, the firms that helped arrange the deal.

Greg Bartholomew of Hayes Commercial Group said SBAM decided on the move because the Carrillo Street location was simply too big with too many redundancies.

“It was larger but had three separate, distinct suites,” he said.

That meant SBAM had three separate kitchens, three separate reception areas, and more conference rooms than necessary.

Bartholomew explained that Ella Paseo LLC, the firm that owns the new location, worked with SBAM to optimize the new 8,474 planned layout.

The building’s fifth floor currently has eight offices in it, but Ella Paseo is building a dozen more as part of the deal.

“So they’re taking lesser footage, but right-sizing it,” said Bartholomew.

The local portfolio investment firm started up in 1987 and was acquired in 2005 by Chicago-based Nuveen Investments.

The company has been searching for a new home downtown for over a year.

The press release credits Ella Paseo LLC for acting “swiftly and deliberately to ensure that a mutually acceptable agreement could be reached by the parties.”

Paul Gamberdella, Bob Tuler and Gene Deering of Radius group represented Ella Paseo LLC along with David K. Beerman who helped broker the deal.