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San Luis Obispo · City of San Luis Obispo

Motel Inn

2223 Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo, CA

Approvedas of October 8, 2026Hospitality

The pin marks a representative location from the cited records, not a verified construction footprint. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Summary

The Motel Inn is the 4.2-acre site at 2223 Monterey Street, beside US 101 at the north end of San Luis Obispo, where the Milestone Mo-Tel opened in 1925 and is credited as the world's first motel. The property has been closed since the 1990s and redevelopment has been pursued since at least 2016. The city's current record describes a revised design of 83 hotel rooms, 27 bungalow guestroom buildings and amenities.

The Planning Commission approved the revised design on July 12, 2023. At that hearing the city's planner described 83 guest rooms and 29 Mission Revival-style bungalow buildings, with the surviving historic remains kept and built around. The city tracker, updated September 2026, lists the project as under building review, meaning construction drawings have been submitted for permit checking.

In July 2026 the owners put the property on the market through Hayes Commercial Group as a construction-ready, fully entitled 83-key hotel site, with no asking price published; the listing also says the property could be re-entitled as a mixed-use project with residential and commercial uses. KSBY reported the sale listing on August 3, 2026, quoting the redevelopment firm CoVelop that the 83-room plan is fully entitled and ready to build, with permit approvals for a portion of the site. No construction start is documented.

Documented scope

Hotel rooms
83 [2]
Bungalows
27 bungalow guestroom buildings (city tracker); 29 bungalow buildings described at the 2023 Planning Commission hearing [2]
Site area
4.2 acres adjacent to US 101 [4]

Milestones

  1. Planning Commission approved the revised design (83 rooms and bungalows). [3]
  2. City summary reported the project in building permit review with 83 rooms. [6]
  3. Property listed for sale as an entitled 83-key hotel site. [5]
  4. City tracker lists the revised design as under building review. [2]

Dates are shown with the precision the source gives: a month or a year when the record has no exact day.

What changed

  • Sale listing for the entitled 83-key hotel site updated; still offered with no published price. [5]
  • KSBY reported the site on the market with a fully entitled 83-room plan. [4]

What the records leave open

  • The city tracker stage was not confirmed by a site inspection or a permit-file review. No building permit issuance, construction start or completion date is published.
  • The bungalow count differs between the city tracker (27 bungalow guestroom buildings) and the 2023 hearing description (29 bungalow buildings); the room count of 83 is consistent.
  • The property is for sale. A buyer could build the entitled plan or seek different entitlements, so the approved design may not be what gets built.
  • The applicant of record is not named in the city tracker; news coverage identifies the Apple Farm owners as the long-time applicant and CoVelop as the redevelopment firm marketing the entitled plan.

More in San Luis Obispo

All San Luis Obispo projects

Sources

  1. Current Development Projects (City of San Luis Obispo development tracker), City of San Luis Obispo, September 21, 2026 (checked November 5, 2026) Story map shows 'Updated September 2026'; page metadata gives a September 21, 2026 modification date.
  2. Tracker record: Motel Inn (Under Building Review layer), City of San Luis Obispo, September 2026 (checked November 5, 2026)
  3. New development approved at world's first motel in SLO, KSBY (news), July 13, 2023 (checked November 5, 2026) Planning Commission approval 'Wednesday evening', July 12, 2023.
  4. Property known as the 'world's first motel' is up for sale in San Luis Obispo, complete with 83-room plan, KSBY (news), August 3, 2026 (checked November 5, 2026)
  5. 2223 Monterey St, Hotel/Land For Sale in San Luis Obispo (Freeway-Adjacent 83-Key Hotel Site with Entitlements), Hayes Commercial Group (broker listing), October 8, 2026 (checked November 5, 2026) Listing first published July 9, 2026; page metadata gives an October 8, 2026 modification date.
  6. San Luis Obispo is experiencing a hotel boom, KSBY (news), April 2, 2024 (checked November 5, 2026)

Research reviewed November 3, 2026. Page content reviewed November 5, 2026. Guide last updated November 5, 2026. Research last reviewed November 3, 2026; records cover November 3, 2021 to November 3, 2026. How the guide is built, and what it does not cover.

Discuss this location with a broker

Buying, selling or leasing near Motel Inn, or planning something of your own nearby? Tell us what you have in mind and we will give you a straight read on the location.

Or call 805.234.5912. You will hear back from a principal of the firm, Samuel Fox Brennan or Glenn Thomas Martin.