Imagine if Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB) was surrounded by thriving businesses. How would the culture of the university be changed if, say, after a Saturday night soccer game, students could walk to a nearby bar? Or have breakfast at a cozy cafe before their 10 a.m. class?
Currently, with the closest off-campus restaurants, groceries and retailers nearly 2 miles away – which, even then, are somewhat limited in selection – students without cars are often left feeling stranded on campus or forced to take the bus.
However, in a projected 10 years, a vision for a more walkable, student-serving community may become a reality at CSUMB. At least this is the hope of “Campus Town,” a planned development just south of CSUMB’s main campus, which hopes to better connect the university with the surrounding community of Seaside.
“This is years in the making,” said Craig Malin, Seaside’s interim city manager. Work on the project first began in December 2016 and has faced no shortage of hurdles since.
A number of dilapidated buildings from the army base will first have to be demolished and difficulty securing sufficient water supply for the project as well as the ongoing cleanup of hazardous waste from Fort Ord’s military legacy have slowed progress.
“We’ve been through a lot,” Malin said.
However, despite years of setbacks, Malin expects that by the end of this year, developers will finally break ground on Campus Town.
He predicts that the project will, “have at least a 10-year build-up.”
According to Malin, the relative isolation of CSUMB largely stems from its origins in Fort Ord, which CSUMB was built on after the base’s decommissioning in 1994.
“Most college campuses have a campus town surrounding them, [but] because CSUMB was crafted relatively recently (1994) out of Fort Ord, there hasn’t been time for that to form around campus yet…so we’re gonna build [it],” Malin said.
According to Malin, Campus Town will be, “a high quality, very walkable community with some small-scale commercial in order to provide a living experience for students, faculty and staff in close proximity to the university.”
The 122-acre development will be bound by Lightfighter Drive to the north, Gigling Road to the south, First Avenue to the west and Eighth Avenue. to the east.
Some 1,485 residential units will be built, which according to Malin, will consist of “predominantly for-sale, single-family homes,” but will also include townhouses, small-scale attached dwellings and “a few hundred affordable housing units.”
“So a freshman can come to CSUMB, graduate, start making their fortune and then buy a house here because they don’t want to leave.”
In addition, 150,000 square feet are allocated for retail, dining and entertainment space.
“Campus and student-serving businesses will be the businesses that survive best. I’m certain there will be a bar or two there and coffee shops and restaurants,” Malin said.
Another 50,000 square feet will be reserved for “light industrial, flex, office, or ‘maker space,’” which Malin hopes will encourage budding entrepreneurs from CSUMB to stay in the area.
“We want [CSUMB graduates] to change the world here at a Seaside business rather than get lost to Silicon Valley or some other place,” Malin said.
Campus Town plans also include the construction of a 250-room hotel and a 75-room youth hostel.
According to Malin, while there are still concerns about lead in the soil, “we’re moving forward with the Department of Toxic Substances Control so the place that will become Campus Town will get cleaned up to residential housing standards and people living there will be able to be confident that they are living in an environmentally safe location.”
Malin said that once the cleanup is complete and final grading permits are secured, developers KB/Bakewell, who also developed Seaside Highlands, “want to get started as soon as possible.”