Costa Mesa is moving forward with another affordable housing project — this time, a defunct motel is slated to become affordable housing with priority for veterans, seniors and people with disabilities.

What used to be The Mesa Motel, originally built in 1958 and then renovated three decades later to double the number of rooms, will now be repurposed as one of the latest affordable housing projects to hit Costa Mesa.

Since its closing in mid-2022, the motel has remained abandoned on Harbor Boulevard until project applicant Nikan Khatibi, a physician and self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur,” addressed the planning commission at a meeting on April 28.

Khatibi said that he will be fully funding the project.

“I know it sounds like business, but this is actually a philanthropic arm for me,

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