New affordable housing development opens in Marina on Fort Ord site
A ribbon cutting ceremony greeted the City of Marina's newest affordable housing development Terracina at the Dunes on Thursday afternoon.
The grand opening celebrates the new 142 housing units developed across two sites, one at 261 Beacon Drive and the other at 215 Horizon Drive in Marina. The Beacon Drive location is built on the land formerly occupied by the Fort Ord military base three decades ago.
The project comes as housing in Monterey County continues to face a housing shortage despite the high cost of living.
Speakers for the event included USA Properties Fund, Inc executive VP Steve Gall stating the project
“Every new affordable housing community affordable housing unit contributes to the easing the burden of affordable housing in a community," Gall said. "The burden is difficult to create new housing that's affordable to folks. And you need affordable housing in order to have great balance in your communities.”
Others in attendance included Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado and Mayor Pro Tem Lisbeth Visscher along with Marina City Councilmembers in attendance.
Property tours were also given for those attending to take a peak inside the residencies.
One resident of the development, Blaine Sutliff, spoke at the event under the moniker of "A Very Happy Resident" speaking on the struggles he and his wife faced before applying to Terracina having to choose between gas or groceries to make ends meet.
“It was a massive relief. Just most housing here in the Monterey Bay is pretty expensive, even if you're just trying to get like a basic one bed, one bath apartment," Sutliff said. "You're looking at something over the $2,000 mark like the lowest level.”
The purpose of the development is to provide housing to residents whose income is between the 30 to 70 percent range of the area median income (AMI). The AMI sits anywhere from $35,760 for a one-person household to $83,440 for a three-person household.
The Terracina development broke ground more than two and half years ago as part of a larger development in the area. The project is located near the future site of the Promenade at the Dunes project near Century Theaters.
