Los Osos landmark eatery to reopen
It will no longer be the Blue Heron restaurant when it reopens now that Santa Barbara hotel owner Carl Johnson of Vintage Hotels Inc has posted an application for a liquor license as of late October. Johnson bought the property along with the Back Bay Inn last year but has only recently decided to reopen the shuttered sit-down eatery along the bay.The landmark eatery closed during Covid 19 epidemic.
The place will be named Back Bay Bistro according to the ABC application. Johnson plans to operate a full dinner house, sources say, likely opening after the first of the year. The restaurant grounds were meticulously landscaped by the former owner, the late Bill Lee, and maintained today. The restaurant with its outdoor patio is next to the coffee spot The Nautical Bean on 2nd St in Baywood.
New home construction drops big time in 2023
New home construction has dropped off a cliff in San Luis Obispo County as high interest rates appear to have cooled home sales. According to the website Construction Monitor builders have permitted just 211 new homes in 2023 through October. That compares to 483 units over the same time in 2022 and 554 through the first 10 months of 2021.The busiest builders so far this year are Midland Pacific Building Corp with 29 homes and Coastal Community Builders with 24.
Jobless rate falls in SLO County
The unemployment rate in San Luis Obispo County was 3.6 percent in September 2023, down from a revised 3.7 percent in August 2023, and above the year-ago estimate of 2.7 percent. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 4.9 percent for California and 3.6 percent for the nation during the same period.
A look at the numbers show SLO County generated 4000 more non-farm jobs than a year ago and 200 more farm jobs. Construction jobs were down 300 year over year. The largest gain in the local economy came in the hospitality sector with1600 more jobs than September 2022.
EDD figures show some 2200 more people in the labor force than a year earlier. About 5000 people are unemployed in the county.
Fewer tourist visit SLO & Morro Bay
Fewer tourists stayed at one of Morro Bay’s 1000 hotel rooms in October according to travel reports. Hotel occupancy was down 6 to 7% in Morro Bay in the month of October depending on the week. Occupancy was 58% in the last week of the month down from 67% in weeks before.
In San Luis Obispo, the city transient occupancy tax(TOT) report shows the occupancy was down 2% in August and in September and September hotel occupancy was 71%. Fewer hotel rooms sold in August resulted in a approximate 5% lower transient occupancy tax monies coming to the City.