Building27 East Cota Street Schedule a Tour

27 East Cota Street · Santa Barbara

The Historic
Lyon Building

Serving the past and future of Santa Barbara.

A working landmark in the heart of downtown — reinforced concrete and wrought iron from the 1920s, a tiled lobby that has greeted tenants for a century, and the connectivity a modern business runs on.

Suite 300 · Available Now Suite 503 · January 2027 Suite 100 · Summer 2027
The Lyon Building on East Cota Street: a white Spanish Colonial Revival elevation with arched openings, ornate wrought-iron grilles and a street lantern.

Our History

A Historic Building — Serving the Past and Future of Santa Barbara

The corner has been earning its keep for a century and a half. In the 1870s a carpenter named Charles Gilchrest opened the first business to front Cota Street, on roughly the ground the building occupies today. By the turn of the century the block had filled in around him with the trades of a working town — a harness maker, a barber, a paint shop, grain storage, a hay and fuel dealer.

In 1923 Lathim's Van and Storage took over the site and put up a new building. Three years later they expanded it. What they built was blunt and deliberate: reinforced concrete, thick floors, freight-scaled openings. It was never meant to be admired. It was meant to hold other people's belongings and not lose them.

In 1928 the name over the door changed to Lyon Van and Storage Co. — and stayed for the better part of a century. The company kept growing into its own building. In 1946 it nearly doubled, adding offices, storage vaults and a shipping-and-receiving dock along the west side. That low wing is still there, and it is the space now offered as Suite 100.

Black-and-white photograph of the Lyon Moving & Storage yard, with the company name high on the concrete flank and a line of Mayflower moving vans drawn up behind a chain-link fence.
The moving yard along the west side, with the fleet drawn up behind the fence.

Then the cargo changed. In 2005 the Brooks Institute of Photography took the building on and renovated it extensively, turning storage floors into studios, darkrooms and galleries — the ground-floor exhibition spaces still read as gallery today. Around the same time the building became something less visible but more consequential: a major fiber-optic meeting point, one of the addresses where carriers converge and downtown Santa Barbara connects to the rest of the world.

Which is the quiet logic of the place. A building put up to keep valuables safe has spent a hundred years doing exactly that — first furniture, then photographs, now data. Kaplan International, Arrow International, GT Medical Technologies, Sonos R&D and an emerging space-technology firm have all worked behind the same walls.

Historic photograph of the Lyon Van & Storage Co. building from Cota Street, its upper flank painted with a large sign reading Moving, Packing, Shipping, Storing, with period automobiles at the kerb.
Lyon Van & Storage Co. from Cota Street, the painted flank advertising moving, packing, shipping and storing.
  • 1870sCharles Gilchrest opens a carpentry shop — the first business to front Cota Street on this block.
  • 1900sThe block fills in with the trades of a working town: harness, paint, grain, hay and fuel.
  • 1923Lathim's Van and Storage occupies the site and builds anew.
  • 1926The building is expanded — reinforced concrete, built to hold weight.
  • 1928The name changes to Lyon Van and Storage Co., and stays for the better part of a century.
  • 1946The company nearly doubles, adding offices, vaults and a loading dock on the west side — today's Suite 100.
  • 2005The Brooks Institute of Photography renovates the building into studios, darkrooms and galleries.
  • TodayA major fiber-optic meeting point and home to technology, life-science and education tenants.

The Building

Century-old bones, current-decade infrastructure

The character is original. Everything behind it has been brought forward.

Enterprise-grade fiber

A major fiber-optic meeting point, with multiple carriers on site delivering carrier-diverse connectivity directly to tenant suites.

Spanish Colonial Revival

Ornate wrought ironwork, arched entries and a glazed-tile lobby — the 1920s detailing kept intact rather than modernized away.

Daylight on every floor

Replaced windows and multiple skylights bring daylight deep into the floor plates — unusual for a building of this vintage.

Elevator & secure access

Passenger elevator serving all five floors, with secured building entry and on-site bicycle parking.

Dedicated HVAC

Suites served by dedicated and shared high-tonnage Carrier units, with a separately conditioned server room in the penthouse.

C-2 Downtown Core

Zoned C-2 Commercial in the Central Business District, half a block off State Street.

Now Leasing

Three suites, three very different rooms

A full floor that divides, a penthouse under skylights, and the ground floor the moving company built.

Available Now Private office in Suite 300 with a walnut desk, wall-mounted whiteboard, steel-framed window and a small round meeting table.

Suite 300

Third Floor — Full Floor

The entire third floor, divisible into two or more suites. Previously improved as a Kaplan International language school and most recently used for office and R&D by an emerging space-technology firm — a layout that has already proven flexible twice.

Size
±8,406Rentable SF
Lease Rate
$2.45Per SF, NNN
NNN Expenses
$0.70Per SF, est.
Parking
1Reserved space
Divisible
Yes2 or more suites
Available
NowImmediate occupancy
Floor plan of Suite 300, the full third floor, showing perimeter private offices around an open central area.
Suite 300 — Third Floor Plan Download Plan (PDF)
  • Full-floor identity with the option to demise into two or more suites
  • Private offices, conference room and open work areas already built out
  • Served by multiple dedicated and shared high-tonnage Carrier HVAC units
  • Direct fiber connectivity from the building's carrier facilities
  • Lease term negotiable; annual CPI (Los Angeles) adjustments
Inquire About Suite 300 Suite 300 Flyer (PDF) (805) 963-1971
Suite 300 conference room with a long dark table, framed prints and a wall-mounted display. Suite 300 entry lounge with track lighting, a curved wall, credenza and two upholstered chairs. Suite 300 corridor with a continuous timber bench beneath a tall steel-framed window.
Available January 2027 Suite 503 penthouse: an open plan beneath a skylight, with a reclaimed timber feature wall, polished concrete floor and a long meeting table.

Suite 503

Penthouse — Fifth Floor

The top of the building. An open loft-style plan with exposed concrete, a reclaimed timber feature wall and multiple skylights, looking out over downtown Santa Barbara toward the Riviera.

Size
2,294Rentable SF
Lease Rate
$2.95Per SF, NNN
NNN Expenses
$0.72Per SF, est.
Parking
1Reserved space
Zoning
C-2Downtown Core
Available
Jan 2027Advance tours welcome
Floor plan of Suite 503, the penthouse, showing private offices, a conference room, kitchen and open office area.
Suite 503 — Penthouse Floor Plan Download Plan (PDF)
  • Panoramic outlook across downtown Santa Barbara and toward the Riviera
  • Open loft-style plan with exposed concrete and a reclaimed timber feature wall
  • Private offices, conference room, kitchen and open office area
  • Dedicated air-conditioned server room included with the suite
  • Lease term negotiable; annual CPI (Los Angeles) adjustments
Inquire About Suite 503 Suite 503 Flyer (PDF) (805) 963-1971
Penthouse conference room with a glass table against a reclaimed timber wall, beside a framed historic photograph of State Street. Penthouse open office with standing desks, a blue sofa and daylight from a skylight and windows on two sides. A reclaimed timber volume set into the penthouse floor plate, forming an enclosed meeting room.
Available Summer 2027 Suite 100: a double-height gallery volume with an open steel stair, clerestory daylight and large-format artwork on white walls.

Suite 100

Ground Floor — Full Floor

The largest space in the building, and the one with the longest working history: this is the 1946 wing Lyon Van & Storage built for its offices, vaults and loading dock. A double-height gallery volume, a glazed roll-up door, and a private landscaped patio.

Size
13,082Rentable SF
Lease Rate
$2.25Per SF, plus NNN
Floor
GroundStreet level
Zoning
C-2Downtown Core
Available
Summer 2027Advance tours welcome
  • Largest contiguous floor plate in the building at 13,082 SF
  • Dramatic double-height gallery volume with an open steel stair
  • Glazed roll-up door and generous ceiling heights from the warehouse era
  • Continuous steel-framed window walls along the west elevation
  • Private gated entry and a landscaped patio for tenant use
View Suite 100 — Photos & Floor Plan Inquire About Suite 100 (805) 963-1971
Suite 100 gallery room with a glazed roll-up door, circular track lighting and a vintage exit sign. Suite 100 interior with a wall of steel-framed windows looking onto the landscaped walkway. The Suite 100 patio furnished with a sofa and lounge chairs beneath the covered walkway.

Location

Half a block off State Street

27 East Cota sits in the Central Business District, close enough to State Street to walk to lunch and far enough off it to park. The Funk Zone, the waterfront and the train station are all within a few minutes on foot.

  • State Street½ block
  • Funk Zone~6 min walk
  • Santa Barbara Amtrak Station~8 min walk
  • The waterfront & Stearns Wharf~12 min walk
  • US-101 access~3 min drive

Open in Maps

Aerial photograph looking down on the Lyon Building, its west wing and the surrounding downtown Santa Barbara street grid.
The Lyon Building and its block, with the single-storey west wing at right.

Leasing Inquiries

Schedule a tour

Ben Williams

Leasing Contact

(805) 963-1971
Santa Barbara Property Group, Inc.
Commercial Property Management
1933 Cliff Drive, Suite 2
Santa Barbara, CA 93109
Tours by appointment, Monday–Friday

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Information contained herein is deemed reliable; although we have no reason to doubt its accuracy, it is not guaranteed. Square footages are approximate. Rates, availability and terms are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and no lease is created except by a written agreement signed by both parties.