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

Built for What Matters Next

For more than a century, the Lyon Building has been where Santa Barbara businesses keep what matters safe, connected, and moving.

The story begins with the working character of lower East Cota Street. By the early twentieth century this was a practical commercial district — workshops, storage, fuel, transport and trade, a part of downtown built around making, moving and serving. In 1920, J. R. Lathim, Jr. acquired the property for his growing transfer and storage company. The business had begun modestly, with a pony, a light wagon, and a stand at State and Cota. The ambition was not modest at all: a building that could take a growing city's furniture, pianos, household goods and valuables, and keep them safe.

The first warehouse rose in 1922 — two stories, fifty by ninety feet, reinforced concrete built to the fireproof standard of its day, and engineered from the outset to carry additional floors. Within roughly two years Lathim added three of them, bringing the building to five stories. The choice of concrete was a statement as much as a specification: permanence, security, capacity, and room to grow with the business it served.

In 1926, Lathim completed the five-story Cota Street front building that defines the property today. Designed and constructed by the Los Angeles firm McMurphy & Stone, the fifty-by-seventy-foot block gave the working warehouse behind it a formal public face — terra cotta, tile, wrought-iron grilles and lanterns, and deep arched openings at the sidewalk. Inside were a tiled lobby, offices, vaults, specialized storage rooms, a passenger elevator, and a freight elevator serving the larger warehouse operation.

The upper storeys of the Lyon Building against a dark sky, the white flank wall carrying painted lettering reading LYON MOVING and STORAGE, with the blank frame of the former roof sign standing behind it.
LYON MOVING · STORAGE, still painted high on the flank wall, beneath the frame that once carried the roof sign.

None of it was speculative space. It was built as an operational headquarters — to receive, store, protect and distribute valuable goods, and to keep doing it. Those same characteristics are why the building works now.

In 1928, the business became Lyon Van & Storage Co. The LYON STORAGE roof sign followed — engineered in 1929, permitted in 1930 — and stood as a landmark on East Cota Street for decades while the company grew around it.

Growth added layers. In 1945, Lyon built a substantial reinforced-concrete west wing designed by Allison and Rible, Architects, with loading facilities, storage and packing rooms, a service island, and support space for the working operation; the City's building inspector called the structural design “exceptional and substantial.” In 1969, a further storage building was added to the east side, completing the multi-building composition visible today.

The contents changed; the logic did not. Storage floors became studios, classrooms, darkrooms, galleries, offices and technical workspace. The Brooks Institute of Photography renovated much of the building in 2005, and education, technology, research and life-science tenants have followed. What the Lyon Building offers now is close to what made it valuable in 1926: robust construction, large and flexible floor plates, a central downtown location, elevator access, and direct fiber connectivity.

The Lyon Building is not a replica of the past. It is a historic commercial building that has adapted, repeatedly, to what Santa Barbara needed next — from furniture and piano storage to photography, education, research, data and technology. For a tenant, that means more than character. It means a building with a century-long record of accommodating serious work.

Historic photograph of the Lyon Van and 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.
Cast ornament on the Cota Street facade: a scrolled cartouche carrying the letter L, framed by fruit swags, beneath a wrought-iron grille.
The letter L, cast into the 1926 façade above the arches — plain concrete on three sides, and this on the fourth.
An arched door in the entrance vestibule, flanked by benches and walls faced in polychrome glazed tile above a tiled floor.
The tiled entrance vestibule, part of the 1926 front building.

Timeline

A century on East Cota Street

  • c. 1884–86J. R. Lathim, Sr. begins a Santa Barbara moving and delivery business with a pony and light wagon.
  • 1920Lathim's Transfer & Storage acquires the East Cota Street property.
  • 1922Construction begins on a two-story reinforced-concrete warehouse, 50 by 90 feet, designed to carry future additional stories.
  • c. 1924Three stories are added, bringing the rear building to five stories.
  • 1925A temporary one-story storage structure is erected at adjoining 29 East Cota Street while permanent construction proceeds.
  • 1926The five-story, 50-by-70-foot Cota Street front block is permitted in May, with McMurphy & Stone as architect and contractor. The work includes the tiled lobby, offices, vaults, passenger elevator and freight elevator.
  • 1928The business begins operating as Lyon Van & Storage Co.
  • 1929–30The roof sign for Lyon Van & Storage is engineered and permitted.
  • 1945Allison and Rible design a substantial reinforced-concrete west addition with loading, service, storage, packing and support areas — today's Suite 100.
  • 1965The City requires the building's large painted wall signs to be removed or painted out under updated sign regulations.
  • 1969–70An east-side storage building is approved following Architectural Board of Review revisions; final exterior colors are approved in February 1970.
  • 1994–97Seismic work is completed at a stairway fire wall, and a telecommunications equipment room is created — an early phase of the property's communications-infrastructure role.
  • 2005The Brooks Institute of Photography renovates the building for studios, darkrooms, classrooms, galleries and related uses.
  • TodayOffice, R&D, education, creative and technology users, with full-floor and divisible-suite opportunities and direct fiber connectivity.

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 1945 west 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.