An apartment complex on Costa Mesa’s west side, which for years housed low-income tenants but whose unpermitted units ran afoul of the city’s municipal codes, is due to be demolished after a judicial ruling issued this week.
The recommendation to raze Casa Siena, located at 1963 Wallace Ave., was made by a court-appointed receiver who took over the site in May 2022 and, according to the property owner, neglected to maintain it, allowing units to be occupied and vandalized by transient squatters.
Public records obtained by the Pilot indicate police and fire personnel were called to the address more than 125 times since the receiver, Eric Beatty, came into temporary possession of the apartments. Call logs describe incidents ranging from assault and attempted suicide to arson and the recovery of stolen property.
The Casa Siena apartments at 1963 Wallace Ave. in Costa Mesa, seen Wednesday, show signs of damage and a fire.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
Selected by Orange County law firm Jones and Mayer, which provides city attorney services for Costa Mesa, Beatty was granted $267,000 to relocate the tenants and another $48,000 to make physical improvements to the property. That funding was charged as a superior lien to be paid by property owner Dennis D’Alessio, of D’Alessio Investments, LLC.
Costa Mesa officials contend in court documents Casa Siena was illegally subdivided into at least 17 units, when the general plan allows for only nine units. They further allege the units contained unpermitted plumbing and electrical connections, interior walls and doors as well as a deteriorating staircase.
But D’Alessio, who purchased the .4-acre parcel in 2015 and has a long history of legal disputes with the city over property rights, occupancy and building plans, tells a different story.
He says the site, formerly a homeless shelter with a communal kitchen, was reconfigured into individual apartments when that use ended. When he purchased the site, he submitted “as built” plans, and the property was deemed legal nonconforming.
The Casa Siena Apartments at 1963 Wallace Ave in Costa Mesa, as seen in May 2022.
(File Photo)
“It’s in the same exact configuration as when I bought it,” he said, adding most tenants were low-income residents receiving rental assistance from local agencies. “It wasn’t the Taj Mahal, but it also wasn’t anything bad.”
The dispute over the property began with a 2019 code complaint filed by a resident D’Alessio’s attorneys maintain was evicted for nonpayment of rent. Code violations were issued, then rescinded when the city realized his “as built” plans were the only record on file, he alleges.
A notice of abatement ordered him to bring the property to compliance, but D’Alessio claims the city never explained what he needed to do. After a judge recommended a receiver intervene, to ensure residents’ safety, D’Alessio said he addressed Beatty’s initial complaints.
But eventually, the bone of contention became the number of units. The matter brought the two parties back into court, and eventually to an impasse. During that time, the apartments fell into decline.
“The property now is a nuisance like you can’t believe,” D’Alessio said. “The police have been called out around 150 times for drugs, loud music. There are homeless people living there. [And] the city has immunity, the receiver has immunity — everybody has immunity but me.”
Meanwhile, since the dispute began, several California laws superseding municipal restrictions on residential developments have been passed to address a statewide housing crisis.
Senate Bill 330 forces cities to approve building plans with higher densities than city laws allow and overrides parking requirements in favor of affordable units. If a city does not approve state-compliant plans in 30 days, builders may proceed under a “builder’s remedy” clause.
Seeking to rehabilitate Casa Siena, D’Alessio contacted the state Department of Housing and Community Development and learned a property of that size could conceivably house 18 units and four accessory dwelling units.
Dennis D’Alessio, left, walks into Orange County Superior Court’s Central Justice Center in Santa Ana Monday for a hearing on his Costa Mesa apartment complex.
(Sara Cardine)
As an alternative to demolition — which the property owner says will constitute another $540,000 superior lien, on top of the $315,000 granted Beatty by the court and the $2.4 million remaining on the original mortgage — D’Alessio proposed his own SB 330 plan.
With minor improvements, it would comprise 14 apartments, including three low-income units. He maintains the plan could be executed for around $42,000 and would compel the city to define the code corrections needed for compliance, which he says it has so far refused to do.
Although he submitted the plan to the city in 2023, D’Alessio received no determination. He and his attorneys met with city representatives Monday in a Santa Ana courtroom, where Beatty pressed for demolition, claiming it would cost millions to bring the site up to code.
“Mr D’Alessio always returns to the fact there are permits for these units — there are not. And that there is a minor repair that could be done that would allow them to be used — there is not,” Beatty said via Zoom. “We are way past that.”
Judge David A. Hoffer returned with a ruling finding demolition the most expedient course of action.
“There’s a lot of debt with this property and it’s been years now,” he said. “If I were to [side with D’Alessio] I’d only be prolonging the inevitable. I think ultimately it would cost too much to rehabilitate this property.”
D’Alessio Wednesday expressed his disappointment, indicating if the city had accepted his plan, Costa Mesa would have more housing and both sides could have called it a day.
“I’m so upset [by this], I’m going to leave it vacant,” he said. “I’m just going to put up a sign saying: ‘This property was taken from me’ and I’m going to leave it up there forever.”