{"id":697884,"date":"2026-06-11T14:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/697884\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T14:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:40:12","slug":"calif-town-thrilled-as-beanie-babies-billionaire-revamps-golf-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/697884\/","title":{"rendered":"Calif. town thrilled as Beanie Babies billionaire revamps golf course"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the region still waits in anticipation for\u00a0Beanie Babies billionaire Ty Warner\u2019s reopening<\/a> of the fabled Four Seasons in Montecito, Warner and his team have journeyed up the coast in an attempt to revitalize a historic golf course in Goleta.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Despite his controversial recent projects, filled with delays and a class-action lawsuit<\/a> from former employees, Warner\u2019s latest \u2014 the refurbishment of the Sandpiper Golf Club<\/a>, an 18-hole public course initially developed in the early 1970s by Montecito resident Ken Hunter \u2014 received a green light last week and high praise from members of the community and city council.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Goleta City Council unanimously approved a massive redevelopment of the course and its associated facilities, giving rise to Warner\u2019s decades-long vision to redevelop the golf course and turn it into a world-class destination. Pending approval from the California Coastal Commission, the golf course and infrastructure improvements on the property include a new clubhouse, a bike path and the renovation of the historic\u00a0Barnsdall Rio Grande gas station building<\/a>, which was built in 1929, shortly after oil was discovered at the nearby Ellwood Oil Field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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For decades, the golf course footprint was used as a coastal oil extraction zone<\/a> for Arco before Hunter built the course. In 2003, three years after Hunter\u2019s death, Warner purchased the golf course. Last week\u2019s approval was the culmination of years of back and forth with city planners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Residents, for the most part, were cheerleaders of the project. Dave Pintard, a local commercial real estate developer and property manager, referenced Warner\u2019s other properties \u2014 beyond the Four Seasons \u2014 as examples of successful renovations and operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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A rendering of the proposed new clubhouse at the Sandpiper Golf Club in Goleta, Calif. The public golf course, owned by Beanie Babies billionaire Ty Warner, is set for a major renovation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City of Goleta<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you see the before-and-after improvements made by the applicant with his other golf facility and clubhouse, at the Montecito Club, and his other properties that he has developed, you\u2019ll agree that those improvements are absolutely stunning, and his track record speaks for itself,\u201d Pintard told the City Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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He said the project will elevate the public golf course to a \u201clegacy facility,\u201d adding: \u201cI think that when it\u2019s said and done, this golf facility will be in the top 10 in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The facility will feature a new 37,000-square-foot, three-story clubhouse that spills into the topography with sloped walls made to look like rolling hills, with glass walls looking out onto the ocean for the panoramic views. The course itself will also receive a redesign<\/a>, and a bike path, accessible to the public, will traverse the property. Area residents from San Luis Obispo, Ventura or Santa Barbara counties can currently play a round at Sandpiper for $100<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sixty-year Goleta resident Kevin Barthel said he supported the project overall, but with one major caveat. He feels some of the proposed buildings block the \u201cvery valuable sunset\u201d off the Santa Barbara coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Sandpiper<\/p>\n

Sandpiper Golf Club in Goleta, Calif.<\/p>\n

Stefan Von Imhof\/500px\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Goleta, we have an opportunity to see the sun go into the ocean during winter months,\u201d he told members of the City Council. \u201cThis design blocks that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as Warner goes, Barthel fell in line with praise of the billionaire: \u201cI appreciate Ty Warner not proposing big-box housing on the bluff, not proposing to build on the bluffs,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before casting their unanimous vote, individual members of the City Council voiced their approval, sometimes mirroring the community\u2019s feedback.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Councilmember James Kyriaco was perhaps the most vocal about how the project could create a new identity for Goleta, the sometimes overlooked, working-class town just north of Santa Barbara, perhaps most famous now as the birthplace of Habit Burger & Grill<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The original Habit Burger & Grill is in the heart of Goleta, Calif., pictured here on Oct. 9, 2024.<\/p>\n

Andrew Pridgen\/SFGATE<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to emerge from out under Santa Barbara\u2019s brand and to really build our own brand as our own distinct destination community I think is really meaningful,\u201d\u00a0Kyriaco said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Kyriaco also espoused the virtues of a new bike path through the property and the refurbishment of the historic gas station building that anchored one of the top producing oil fields in the U.S. \u201cIt\u2019s really rooted in our history of oil,\u201d he said. \u201cThe irony, the bitter irony, is what\u2019s been destroying this beautiful monument to that past has been climate change that is caused by what you used to collect right outside that service station.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"FILE:<\/p>\n

FILE: Billionaire Ty Warner, the creator of Beanie Babies toys and a hotelier, sits at one of his properties in\u00a0Montecito, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nik Wheeler\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n

But in the end, he too left no doubt as to whom he wanted to thank most: \u201cThis project has taken a few twists and turns, but I think this community really owes appreciation and a little bit of a debt to Ty Warner because he could\u2019ve walked away from this a long time ago,\u201d he said. \u201cHe could\u2019ve just picked up his marbles and gone home. But he had a vision, and he was patient \u2014 he was very patient.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the region still waits in anticipation for\u00a0Beanie Babies billionaire Ty Warner\u2019s reopening of the fabled Four Seasons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,245652,99],"class_list":["post-697884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sfgcentralca","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}