From ‘Dump’ to ‘Godsend’ : Renovated Hotel Gives Elderly a Chance for a Decent Room at an Affordable Rent

A little more than a year and a half ago, the venerable Hotel Sandford in downtown San Diego was just a notch above a flophouse.

There was asbestos in the basement, a dead furnace that left elderly and indigent tenants cold in winter, broken beds that caused some to sleep on bamboo mats and a depressing dinginess so encompassing that it led former resident Margaret Meyers to say, “This place is a dump.”

All that was history Wednesday as the Sandford reopened, showing off its multimillion-dollar face lift, a renovation so dramatic that seemingly the only thing the same is the name. Yet it retains many of its historic characteristics.

In its new incarnation, the Sandford will provide housing for San Diego’s low-income elderly at monthly rents of $250 to $475, a range one senior housing advocate described as “a godsend.”

The new hotel has 130 rooms. Although small, each room has a private bath--a rarity in many single-room-occupancy hotels downtown--and is furnished with drapes, a bed, chest, desk, chair, picture on the wall, a cable-linked color television set, heating and air conditioning, and emergency call buttons. Maid and linen service will be provided weekly.

The four-story hotel also has a large dining hall, a movie lounge and spacious laundry room, all in the basement, where the original brick has been cleaned and left in view.

The attractive structure itself has been bathed in bright white paint throughout, outlined along the roof line by 150 light bulbs, and its interior has been restored to the way it looked when it first opened in 1913 at 5th and A streets.

There is a chandelier, stained glass and intricate tile work in the lobby--designs based on a photograph from the San Diego Historical Society--brass rails on the first floor, and separate men’s and women’s “writing rooms” on the ground floor.

Behind the restoration is the Downtown Senior Center and the San Diego Kind Corp., two nonprofit corporations formed to help the city’s elderly. And the driving force behind the two organizations is Mavoureen O’Connor, twin sister of Mayor Maureen O’Connor.

The $6.5-million cost of buying the Sandford and renovating it was borne through a combination of donations and a loan from a private lender, although an emergency release of $500,000 in federal funds helped the corporations close escrow on the building back in November, 1987.

And, although the Sandford stands as a gleaming example of what can be done to both save old buildings downtown and provide the elderly with affordable housing, Mavoureen O’Connor took some hits in late 1987, when tenants of the hotel--as decrepit as it was--were moved out during the Christmas holidays to make way for the restoration. If still around, those same folks have first rights to move back now.

At the time, O’Connor was sensitive to the criticism. But she has a track record for providing reasonably priced housing for the elderly. She and her organizations built San Diego Square, a 156-unit apartment house a few blocks from the Sandford. And O’Connor has embarked on a new project, transforming the historic New Palace Hotel at 5th and Elm streets into 80 residential units for the elderly.

Alarm Test

On Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the official grand opening presided over by Sen. Pete Wilson, O’Connor was at the Sandford, scurrying about as workmen labored over final details and the Fire Department tested the screeching fire-alarm system.

She seemed much the excited and anxious mother, providing a visitor with a copy of the short speech she planned to give a few hours later. “A renovation project, like aging, is not for sissies,” read the speech. “Our hope is that the residents of the Hotel Sandford will rest each night in comfort and security, and awaken each day to the warmth of the sun and fragrance of a rose.”

If anyone seemed more proud, it was her sister the mayor, who dropped in and was trying hard to keep up with her twin. “If anything, she gets penalized because of who I am,” said the mayor, remarking on his sister’s accomplishments in helping low-income seniors.

And the need is there, according to Jack Leshefka, a housing coordinator for Senior Community Centers of San Diego, a nonprofit group that provides a spectrum of services to the elderly, including, in Leshefka’s case, help to those living in SROs--single-room occupancy hotels.

Affordable Housing Shortage

“Rents in rundown hotels start at about $260 (monthly),” he said. “There is a real shortage of housing that is affordable.” The average income of those Leshefka helps is about $400 a month.

Of the Sandford, he says: “It’s a fabulous situation . . . a wonderful situation for seniors.” He has already begun referring seniors to fill out applications to live at the hotel. Mavoureen said that, although there has been no public advertising for the Sandford, 85 elderly have already been screened and have qualified to live there, and should begin moving in during the next month.

“They’ll have no problem filling it up,” Leshefka said. “Some are paying more at an SRO than they will be at the Sandford. It’s really a godsend.”

“I really think,” he said, “that group really understands the housing needs of seniors.”