Contractors Break Ground at Fort OrdBack to News

Contractors broke ground Monday on a new and long-awaited development in Fort Ord.

The project includes more than 1,000 new homes including affordable housing units, a library, police and fire stations and even its own arts district.

The community will be built on 240 acres of Fort Ord’s East Garrison area located off Reservation Road, between Salinas And Marina.

People involved in the project said it’s about time.

Like all the redevelopment efforts in the former Ford Ord, the East Garrison project has been a long process. Contractors, however, said they are bragging a little saying they must be doing something right because they haven’t been sued.

Once completed, the entire community will have a total of 1,400 homes including townhouses, condos and almost 300 affordable housing units.

Developers said that the most unique aspect of this new community is the plan to integrate the arts into everyday life.

They said a group called Arts Habitat is a huge component of this development program, which will provide 65 affordable live-work units for artists to work in their own living space, something the group had been fighting to get for 16 years.

Contractors said they hope the project will be a model community to inspire redevelopment of the rest of Fort Ord.

The homes are expected to be available for move-in by 2009.