State grants $29M to convert Costa Mesa Travelodge into 76 units of supportive housing

The lion’s share of the funding for the redevelopment of a Costa Mesa motel into permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless and at-risk individuals has finally fallen into place, meaning construction may soon begin at 1400 Bristol St.

That’s where the aging and underutilized Travelodge by Wyndham Orange County Airport/Costa Mesa will be converted by Midway City-based nonprofit developer American Family Housing (AFH) into 76 studio and one-bedroom apartments under the state’s Project Homekey program.

Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie Norris (D-Irvine) joined Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley Wednesday in announcing the allocation of $29 million in grant funding from the Department of Housing and Community Development toward completion of the project.

Travelodge by Wyndham Orange County Airport/Costa Mesa will be converted into 76 studio and one-bedroom apartments under the state’s Project Homekey program.

(File Photo)

The award will be added to $4 million committed by Costa Mesa City Council in June 2023 and an additional $3 million from the city of Newport Beach, in exchange for a portion of the site’s occupancy. Orange County contributed another $7 million and 48 program-based vouchers toward the project’s $48-million price tag.

Petrie Norris called the grant award a “strong commitment” by state, county and city leaders to provide needed housing and services to the area’s most vulnerable individuals.

“I’m proud to have advocated for these state funds and partner with American Family Housing to advance this much needed project to create a safe and nurturing environment for those unable to find stable housing in our community,” the assemblywoman said in a statement Wednesday.

Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley in 2020, as the former mayor of Costa Mesa, partnered with city and county officials to temporarily shelter homeless and at-risk residents in shuttered motel rooms during the pandemic as part of Homekey’s precursor, Project Roomkey.

Foley said the interagency investment in the Bristol Street conversion will help “turn another downtrodden, crime magnet, motel into permanent supportive housing for our veterans, seniors and homeless residents.

News

Costa Mesa pays $4M toward converting Travelodge into 76 units of supportive housing

The City Council Tuesday voted 5-1 to support a second Project Homekey hotel conversion at an underused Travelodge at 1400 Bristol St.

June 21, 2023

“The solution to the homelessness crisis requires aggressive redevelopment and partnership between developers and the state, county and federal government,” she said in Wednesday’s release.

The state allocation starts a time clock on the project, required to be completed within 12 months of the grant award. Nate Robbins, who oversees Costa Mesa’s bridge shelter operations as the city’s neighborhood improvement manager, estimated the housing development could be completed by fall of 2025.

“Right after it’s done we need to move people in,” Robbins said Thursday, explaining that while 48 of the 76 units will go to those in the county’s care coordination database, the remaining 28 units will be specifically dedicated to Costa Mesa and Newport Beach residents.

“On the day that project opens, 28 Costa Mesa and Newport formerly homeless residents will be given the keys to their new home. It’s an amazing project.”

The project Home Key site is Costa Mesa’s second. Earlier this year, the city celebrated the opening of an 88-unit complex called Mesa Vista at a 1.17-acre former Motel 6 near the 55 Freeway.

For the Travelodge conversion, American Family Housing will not only oversee construction of the Travelodge site but will provide on-site support services to those who live there. As an added benefit, a commercial kitchen space on the 3.5-acre property — currently leased by Mediterranean restaurant Pom & Olive — has agreed to offer jobs and training to tenants.

Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens said while the city has made great strides in helping get people off the streets, particularly since opening a permanent bridge shelter in 2021 that currently offers 85 beds and will soon go up to 100, there’s much more to be done.

“The challenge we have in our bridge shelter is we have a lot of people who are ready for housing, but we don’t have any places to house them,” he said Thursday. “This is 76 permanent supportive units. Coming together with our partnership with Newport, we are doing our part to address the issue of finding permanent supportive housing.”