CHICO — After being nothing more than a rock-strewn empty field for nearly a decade, the vacant property at 2324 The Esplanade is on its way to usefulness again.
Construction equipment and fencing are in place and it appears preliminary work, such as the installation of underground utilities, has begun at the site just north of Rio Lindo Avenue.
City of Chico officials have approved construction of a 37-unit housing complex on the 1.29-acre parcel, once the home of the Rio Lindo Motel, which became the Regal Inn in the 1990s. The one-story motel opened in the 1940s to serve travelers along The Esplanade, which at the time was U.S. Highway 99E, Northern California’s main north-south road on the east side of the Sacramento River.
However, with the passage of time and the opening of the 99 freeway in the 1960s, the motel began to decline. By the early 2000s, it had become a mostly residential property. City officials and police became annoyed at the increasing transient activity there, along with vandalism and other assorted lawlessness — including a suspicious fire in June 2014.
City inspectors found numerous code and health violations and condemned the structure that summer; demolition began in November 2014.
According to the Enterprise-Record in December 2014, Stephen Cowee, owner of North State Auto Brokers — a used-car dealership on Humboldt Avenue near Main Street — was interested in buying the property for purposes of business expansion. Associate city planner Greg Redeker said the city endorsed the new use, as it would eliminate a dilapidated eyesore while providing a compatible use in the area.
Car dealership Miller Buick-Oldsmobile, for example, had a sales lot directly across the street at 2303 The Esplanade from 1956 until 2007. Auto repair and car rental businesses were just south of that location.
Nothing came of the plan for North State Auto Brokers, however, despite entering escrow in 2014 to purchase the property from the lot’s owners. The lot has remained vacant ever since.
Now there will be a complex made up entirely of “affordable” rental units — meaning the occupants will be paying no more than 30% of their gross income to live there. The city is partially funding the complex’s construction, which has a designation to serve “special needs” residents.
Pacific West Communities, based in Eagle, Idaho, is the project’s developer, in partnership with Chico PSH Pacific Associates.
