Group Attempts to Buy Encinitas Motel for Homeless : Charity: North County Chaplaincy is negotiating to create housing for migrant and other workers.

A North County advocacy group for homeless migrant workers is negotiating to purchase an Encinitas motel along Interstate 5 and convert it to low-income housing.

The Rev. Rafael Martinez, executive director of the Encinitas-based North County Chaplaincy, said Tuesday that the group made an offer on the 106-room Image Inn last week.

Martinez said it is too early to disclose the asking price on the motel, which sits on half an acre of land on the east side of I-5 at Leucadia Boulevard. Sources close to the deal placed the asking price at about $3 million.

“Things are in the works right now, so we think it’s best not to discuss certain details,” Martinez said. “If we can swing this thing, it will be a real beginning to solving the housing problem in this city.”

The facility, organizers say, would be open to all low-income workers, not just migrants from Mexico and Central America, whose cause has been championed by the group in recent years.

The motel is still operating under the ownership of Fidelity Federal Bank of Glendale, which foreclosed on the previous owners of the property last October for an estimated $2.7-million outstanding debt, sources said.

Brokers involved in the proposed sale of the motel say it hinges on the North County Chaplaincy’s success in securing the necessary government grants and loans.

The advocacy group has contacted city, state and federal agencies and is racing to meet the deadlines on several programs, Martinez said.

Martinez met Tuesday afternoon with members of the San Diego County Housing Authority to discuss available funding. Board members of the advocacy group planned to meet later in the evening to discuss further funding strategies.

“We’re looking at all sources available to help the poor,” said Dennis Meehan, a Carlsbad-based real estate agent with Scher-Voit Commercial Brokerages, which is negotiating the sale.

“But this is a business deal. Obviously, some of the money will come in the form of loans. But the funding is available.”

Meehan said the North County Chaplaincy had “site-control” on the property--a term he described as an agreement reached with the owner to either buy or lease the site.

Jack Pekar, vice president of the Glendale bank, said it is interested in selling the property, which has been up for sale since shortly after the date of foreclosure.

“Leasing is not in our benefit--we’re not in the leasing business,” he said. “Our goal is to sell the property.”

He acknowledged that he had a tentative agreement with the North County Chaplaincy to sell the motel at a fixed price.

“In essence, you can say it’s in escrow,” he said. “But certain conditions have to be met. Their big deal is to get the financing.”

Not everyone was aware, however, of the Image Inn’s pending sale.

Motel Manager Joe Cicchese said he learned of the deal from a reporter. “Nobody told me,” he said. “I’ve been manager for just about a month and I’d like to know.”

He said the motel was still in operation. “We’re making money,” he said. “We’re in the black, anyway.”

Encinitas City Councilwoman Anne Omsted said she also had not yet officially been informed of the plan to purchase the motel. “But then again, there’s no reason they should have, if they weren’t seeking city funds,” she said. “I’m just not sure what the city’s role in this should be.”

The city is currently defending a 2-year-old lawsuit claiming that the housing element of its general plan does not provide for--and purposely limits--adequate housing for the poor.

The suit was filed by California Rural Legal Assistance, a migrant rights group, on behalf of several day laborers who worked in Encinitas but who could not afford to secure housing there.

Encinitas has four complexes that include low-income units, Omsted said. Nonetheless, the council welcomes any efforts by advocacy groups to help fill the void, she said.

“Encinitas is severely deficient in its fair share of affordable housing for the San Diego region,” she said. “Anything that they want to contribute to affordable housing for the working poor--so that they can have a decent place to live--is absolutely a bonus, there’s no question about it.”

Omsted noted a lack of affordable housing within the city for others as well.

“There’s waitresses, beginning teachers, people who work in 7-Elevens and service stations who aren’t able to pay the rents we have around here unless they get four to six people in a house or apartment.

“It’s a critical housing problem we have on the coast. So this is a welcome development.”