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ANAHEIM, Calif. (Sept. 13, 2022) — Anaheim plans to buy a closed Beach Boulevard motel and redevelop the site as affordable and potentially other housing as part of a larger effort to rebuild the 1.5 miles of Beach Boulevard running through the city.
Anaheim’s City Council on Tuesday voted to spend $6.6 million to buy the Covered Wagon Motel site, currently owned by Crystal Pak and family. A sale could close in November.
The 70-room Covered Wagon was closed by the city on March 29 for public safety and health concerns. The motel was red tagged for open electrical wiring, water leaks, sewage problems, lack of smoke detectors, mold, filth and squalor.
Some 10 long-term residents, including families with children, were relocated from the Covered Wagon leading up to, during and immediately after the red tagging.
In a reflection of the real problems and sad realities of Beach Boulevard, others onsite appeared to be chronic drug abusers and those involved in sex trafficking and prostitution.
Anaheim is set to acquire the 1.3-acre Covered Wagon site using state funding for affordable housing. The funding is known as a Permanent Local Housing Allocation grant.
The funding through the state Housing and Community Development Department is provided to local governments for the addition of affordable housing.
Upon completion of a sale, Anaheim Housing and Community Development is expected to demolish the existing motel building to prevent crime, blight and trespassing.
The city would then seek developer proposals for the building of an affordable housing community with the potential for some homes for sale and retail on the site as well.
This would be the third Beach Boulevard motel Anaheim has acquired in the past two decades:
- Silver Moon Motel: Acquired by Anaheim in 2001 and demolished by the city in 2002 with the site now in the planning stages for development as affordable housing along with homes for sale and some retail
- Americana Motel: acquired in 2019 and demolished in 2021; along with Silver Moon site, now in the planning stages for development as affordable housing along with homes for sale and some retail
With any redevelopment of the Covered Wagon site, Anaheim will follow a model used throughout the city to bring high-quality, professionally managed affordable housing that improves areas where it is built.
Anaheim is home to 14 affordable housing communities that are as nice or better than many market-rate apartment communities in our city.
They include Rockwood Apartments and Diamond Apartment Homes, both along Lincoln Avenue in central Anaheim, and Buena Esperanza in west Anaheim.
Affordable communities in Anaheim have improved neighborhoods and helped spur additional investment redevelopment in their areas.
You can see more at Anaheim.net/affordable.
On Beach Boulevard, Anaheim is working to address serious issues including human sex trafficking, illegal gambling, drug dealing and abuse, homelessness and blighted businesses.
An effort known as Rebuild Beach is looking to transform the area in overlapping phases.
The first phase is focused on addressing daily public safety issues with targeted enforcement, high visibility cameras and working with residents, businesses and state partners.
The second phase is focused on near-term upgrades including new streetlights, the undergrounding of overhead utility lines and funding for businesses and property owners to improve the look of commercial spaces.
The third phase involves long-term redevelopment as an inviting, walkable street with homes, public spaces, restaurants, shops and other businesses.
Redevelopment is underway with new townhomes nearly finished and retail coming to Beach Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue and more projects expected in 2023 and beyond.
You can learn more at Anaheim.net/RebuildBeach.
