COSTA MESA : City Studies Housing Uses for Motor Inn

Developers are proposing that the Costa Mesa Motor Inn be converted to housing for the working poor or senior citizens.

The motel’s owner, the federal Resolution Trust Corp., will consider a recommendation from the City Council in deciding to whom the land should be sold, City Manager Allan L. Roeder said.

Developers Merrill Butler III and John Whelan of Whelan Development Co. presented their plans to convert the building at a City Council study session Monday.

Butler wants to obtain the building for single-room-occupancy housing, which he said is desperately needed in the area. SROs are made up of single units that each have furniture, a kitchenette and telephone.

County SRO guidelines require on-site managers, 24-hour security officers or other security measures for tenants. The apartment units require little or no deposit and can be rented by the month.

Butler estimated that it would take $1 million to refurbish the building, an endeavor that would be funded through private investors. Other costs would be funded from government grants designed for this purpose.

Butler also proposed to build a job skills training center and a parking lot to which only residents and their guests would have access. He would also keep the same number of rooms, 230, as are now in use.

Whelan has proposed converting the building--at 2277 Harbor Blvd.--to apartments for single senior citizens.

Ernie Rivas, a senior planner with Whelan Development, said the project would add kitchenettes to rooms that do not have them, and would include a larger community kitchen and dining area for seniors.

However, Roeder said, both proposals have drawbacks, although they meet the concerns of council members who have expressed a desire for more housing for senior citizens and the working poor.

The senior housing proposal would require a zone change because the motel is in a commercial area. The hotel also contains more units per acre than now permitted in residential areas.