Costa Mesa approves Fairview Development Center project

A large-scale housing development has been approved on the former site of a state hospital campus in Costa Mesa.The City Council last week approved a plan for 2,300 residences on the former hospital site known as the Fairview Developmental Center that would include 920 units designated as affordable for qualified low-income tenants.The decision advances a long process to reuse the sprawling hospital property that once housed more than 2,500 patients but was closed in 2022 as the state shifted care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities toward community-based group homes and independent living.No developer has been selected to build the project and plans don’t specify what the housing should look like. A development this scale would typically include apartment buildings and other multiunit housing formats.The complex will have 35,000 square feet of commercial space that a draft environmental impact report described as including stores, restaurants, coffee shops, fitness studios, and childcare facilities. The plan includes 25 acres of publicly accessible open space that supports uses such as parks, plazas, walking and biking trails, recreation centers and pi...