- Miramar Hotel
The Miramar By The Sea (
Montecito, CA ) history began in 1876 when Josiah and Emmeline Doulton purchased the 20 acre ocean front property in Montecito. In 1889 the Doultons built a separate cottage for visiting friends, which soon served to accommodate outside guests. Originally called Ocean View Farm, a guest at the hotel suggested that the name of the destination be changed to “Miramar”, meaning “behold the sea.” Mrs. Doulton was immediately taken with the name and ordered signs the following day. Over the years, the hotel was expanded and by 1910 there were 29 structures on the property. The Miramar struggled during the Depression and the Doultons eventually sold the hotel to Paul Gawzner on November 3, 1939. Gawzner owned the Miramar until September 1998, whenIan Schrager purchased it for $31.7 million. The hotel closed its doors onSeptember 10 ,2000 to begin renovations and was set to reopen in about 18 months.Eight years later, the partially demolished Miramar Hotel still sat vacant on some of the most valuable property in
California . On April 29, 2005,Ty Warner Hotels purchased the hotel from Schrager promising to renovate it in the near future. Less then 2 years later, no renovations were made.Finally, in January of 2007, Rick J. Caruso of
Caruso Affiliated purchaed the Miramar for an undisclosed price. He plans to begin renovations by the beginning of 2009.The Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Department is considering plans for the total replacement of the Miramar faciity. The plans are open to the public here:
[http://www.sbcountyplanning.org/projects/07RVP-00009/index.cfm Miramar Hotel Project at Santa Barbara County Planning Page]
External links
* [http://www.MiramarByTheSea.com www.MiramarByTheSea.com]
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