Panera Bread is planning to open a second Santa Barbara location at State and Ortega streets, in the building formerly occupied by Left at Albuquerque. (Tom Bolton / Noozhawk photo)

Panera Bread to Fill Longtime Vacant Space Downtown In other business news, Fresh & Easy is coming to Goleta while Taco Roco is leaving Santa Maria A Panera Bread will be going into a vacant space at 700 State St. in Santa Barbara across from Macy’s.

Panera Bread, which has another location at 3851 State St., has leased the space that was vacant a number of years following the closure of the Left at Albuquerque restaurant, according to Michael Chenoweth, a senior vice president at Radius Commercial Real Estate & Investments.

Chenoweth said he was unsure of a time frame related to opening the new location. Officials with Panera Bread could not be reached for comment.

Fresh & Easy Going into Visible Goleta Location

Fresh & Easy has acquired space at 5955 Calle Real in Goleta to build a new grocery store.

The grocery-store chain bought the two-acre property for $5.7 million in the first quarter after three years of being in escrow, said Brad Frohling, a principal at Radius.

“Fresh & Easy is looking for a prime site in Goleta,” said Frohling, noting its only other area location at 336 N. Milpas St. in Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara Motorsports was in that location before moving to a vacant space at 6466 Hollister Ave.

No Fresh & Easy representatives could be reached, but Frohling said the company plans to raze the site and build a new building in an undetermined time frame. Scott Kolwitz, a senior planner for the City of Goleta, said the grocery store has its permits but needs to pay final fees to continue.