Bank of SB sale final

Capitol Bancorp Limited announced Friday that it has completed the sale of Bank of Santa Barbara to a local investor group led by veteran southern California banker Eloy Ortega. “We are pleased to have completed this strategic divestiture,” said Capitol’s Chairman and CEO Joseph D. Reid in a press release. “The sale will assist Capitol in its continuing efforts to enhance balance sheet strength.”

Ortega has served as president and chief operating officer of City Commerce Bank, and as the founding president and CEO of Business First National Bank. The other primary investors in the Bank of Santa Barbara are the Hutton Foundation, the Orfalea Family Foundation and Tim and Bernie Marquez, principals of Venoco. Tim Marquez is Venoco’s CEO.

Capitol Bancorp Limited is a $5.4 billion national community banking company, with a network of separately chartered banks in 17 states. Founded in 1988, Capitol Bancorp Limited has executive offices in Lansing, Michigan, and Phoenix, Arizona.

Wass to Bangladesh

Santa Barbara resident Marjorie Wass, who grew up in the Valley and graduated from Santa Ynez Valley Union High School, is part of a group of young business people who will tour Bangladesh for several weeks beginning in January. As part of the 2010 Group Study Exchange Team of Rotary District 5240, will experience Bangladeshi culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced in the country, develop personal and professional relationships and exchange ideas.

Rotary’s GSE program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for non-Rotarian businesspeople and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. Wass is a senior account executive at SurfMedia Communications where she works in public relations and marketing for a number of clients including the American Red Cross, Santa Barbara County Chapter and Direct Relief International.

A tradition ends

The Burnett Family Christmas Tree Farm opens at 9 a.m. Saturday. The farm offers families the opportunity to select a Monterey Pine Christmas tree now and then return to cut it down in December. The tradition started in 1965 when the farm first opened. This is the final year for the farm, the last one in Santa Barbara County.

The Christmas Tree Farm features choose-and-cut Monterey Pine Trees and a selection of fresh cut Nobel, Grand, Fraser and Doug firs. For commercial businesses, the farm says it is the only approved fire retardation farm in the area. The Burnett Family Christmas Tree Farm, at 1475 Highway 246 in Buellton, is just 2 1/2 miles west of Highway 101, 14 miles east of Lompoc, or 28 minutes from Goleta and Santa Barbara. Call (805) 686-1490 for more information.

Networking breakfast

All business people are invited to the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Business 2 Business breakfast for networking over a hot breakfast with local businesses and their guests at the Earl Warren Showgrounds 7 to 9 a.m. Dec. 1.

Learn about each other’s business and provide leads and referrals to one another. Everyone is provided with an opportunity to introduce themselves and their business in a 20-second elevator pitch to the crowd. All with advance reservations for the event will be listed on a take home hot sheet distributed to all attendees.

RSVP required at b2bbreakfast.com; $20 for members (RSVP prior to noon Wednesday); $25 for non-members (RSVP prior to noon Wednesday); and $30 for late or at-door-registration (RSVP after noon on Wednesday). For questions or more information, call (805) 967-2500.

Historic ranch for sale

El Capitan Ranch, originally part of a 1769 land grant from King Charles III of Spain, has been listed for sale. The ranch has been listed for $12.5 million with Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. It has 200 acres with a 3,000-acre land lease, polo fields, dressage arenas, hunter jumper fields and cross country trails facing the ocean. Beyond the main living quarters, the estate’s grounds offer sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. For more information, contact Greg Tice, senior vice president of Sotheby’s, at (805) 969-9993 or Greg.Tice@sothebyshomes.com

Marriott officially green

The Santa Ynez Valley Marriott is the first hotel in Santa Barbara County to complete the Green Business Program process. The program offers incentives and assistance to businesses to encourage them to implement voluntary actions to protect, preserve and improve the environment beyond what current law requires. The hotel looked at all aspects of its operation to find ways to improve efficiency and to minimize its impact on the environment.

The Marriot is one of five businesses so-designated recently. The other certified businesses are Blackbird Architects, Santa Ynez Chumash Tribal Government Building, Shoreline Café and Van Atta Landscape Design. For more information on the Green Business Program, visit greenbizsbc.org