Plan to convert Motel 6 and Days Inn into 148 affordable senior apartments goes to Riverside housing committee

A proposal to turn two Riverside motels into 148 apartments for low-income seniors was on the agenda of a special meeting of the City Council's Housing and Homelessness Committee on Aug. 31.

The item was a report for the committee to receive and comment on. What the committee said or did is not in the records reviewed; no minutes of the meeting were available.

The plan comes from Allied Argenta LLC, which has signed a letter of intent covering both properties, according to a staff report from the city's Housing and Human Services Department.

La Sierra Avenue

The larger project would buy the 122-room Motel 6 at 3663 La Sierra Ave., on about 2.1 acres, and rebuild it as 82 apartments.

The staff report lists about 41 studios and 40 one-bedroom apartments, plus a two-bedroom manager's unit.

Twenty apartments would be reserved for households at 30% of area median income and backed by project-based Section 8 vouchers. The rest would be for households at 50% to 60% of area median income.

The estimated cost is about $39.6 million. The developer intends to seek about $9 million from the state's Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program and wants the city's help pursuing it, the report says.

The report's timeline shows a purchase closing in December 2028 and construction finishing in October 2029.

Magnolia Avenue

The second project would convert the 66-room Days Inn at 10545 Magnolia Ave., on about 0.77 acres, into 65 studios and a manager's unit.

Fifty of the units would be limited to households at 30% of area median income, the report says. The estimated cost is about $24.7 million.

For this site the developer is asking the city to commit rental assistance for some of the lowest-income units. The report estimates that request at about $7.7 million over 20 years.

The timeline shows a purchase closing in March 2028 and construction finishing in February 2029.

Rents and services

The report lists 2026 maximum tax-credit rents of $645 a month for a studio at the 30% income level and $1,076 at the 50% level. Voucher holders would pay about 30% of household income.

Both sites would get gated perimeters with controlled entry. Planned features include grab bars, slip-resistant flooring, a fitness center and a community room.

Life Steps would provide resident services at both properties, the report says. A property manager has not been selected.

Cost to the city

The staff report says the proposal has no immediate cost to the city and that the committee was not asked for a funding commitment.

"Any future request for City funding will be presented to the City Council for consideration and approval, as applicable," the report says.

Both motels are in Ward 6.