Herthel Parcel Sold To Santa Rita Land & Vine LLC

Doug Herthel has sold the adjacent .64-acre parcel on the west side of Mattei’s Tavern to Santa Rita Land & Vine LLC, a Santa Barbara company for $2.25 million. Santa Rita also bought Mattei’s from Adam Firestone and Mattei’s Tavern LLC.

Mr. Herthel, I believe, is still the President of POLO and is a member of the original POLO Board of Directors.

Mr. Herthel said that he bought the property in the first place because he and his wife had become aware of plans to build a convenience store on the site.

Santa Rita Land & Vine LLC, a Santa Barbara company has not, according to news articles, announced its intentions for the properties. But Herthel said he heard that Santa Rita Land & Vine was “into environmental protection and green building.”

He added that he believed their plans included only the restoration of Mattei’s Tavern and renovation of the kitchen.

“It seemed extremely first-class,” Herthel said.

The buyers have not revealed any plans for the land, and their attorney, Matthew Allen, said he had no comment on behalf of the company.

According to California secretary of state records, Santa Rita Land & Vine is in Santa Barbara, with Aaron D. Faust listed as its “agent for service of process.” Faust could not be reached, and no other company spokesman could be found.

Huh?

I tired to find information on Santa Rita Land & Vine LLC on the Internet but came up with nothing. Zero. You would think a company making this kind of investment in our valley would have some sort of presence somewhere in the public domain. Maybe they do but I couldn’t find it.

If Santa Rita Land & Vine LLC, who ever the hell they are, has not announced its intentions for the properties then where does Mr. Herthel’s beliefs on what they will do with the land come from?

Is it just wishful, hopeful thinking or does he know for a fact that this company has plans for this land that will not cause any loss of sleep for him and his wife.

Doesn’t really sound like anyone actually knows what plans this Santa Rita company has for the land. They “believe” and “it seemed” and “he heard” makes the eventual use of the land all very up in the air to me.

At a VPAC General Meeting back in October of 2005, Mr. Herthel gave a brief presentation of what POLO does and what they will be doing in the future – which by their own words was “overall protecting the spaces in Los Olivos”

It just doesn’t seem like this kind of sale is in the best interest of protecting or preserving spaces in Los Olivos which is a component of the POLO mission statement.

There is no guarantee that this “phantom” company won’t try and build a little convenience store there.

How ironic it would be for POLO to go before the Planning Commission to fight whatever potential project this company might propose.

I guess time will tell.

A nice little park would have been great and more to what POLO represents, but of course $2.25 million in a depressed real estate market ain’t too shabby and I don’t blame Mr. Herthel one bit and completely support his right to do anything he likes with his property.

He probably feels very lucky that those darn Chumash Indians didnt kill the deal with all these rumors of them taking away our rights.

It’s good to see that the good doctor's private property rights are still intact.