After 17 years, City of Seaside moves to terminate nonprofit hostel society’s lease.

At first glance, three old Army buildings on the former Fort Ord are just derelict structures. A two-story building offers views through cracked windows. Buckets catch rainwater coming in through the roof. Piles of donated mattresses are stacked in one room.

But to Peter Kambas, chair of the Fort Ord Hostel Society, this is the site of a dream for the future. He can imagine visitors from all over the world mingling in a shared kitchen, bicyclists hitting the trails on the national monument just outside, and guests visiting CSU Monterey Bay.

As a decades-long volunteer at hostels in Monterey and Santa Cruz, he says he has seen firsthand the benefits. “It could really promote the concept of world peace, if people connect on a one-to-one basis,” Kambas says.

The dream of transforming this 4.6-acre, city-owned parcel into a hostel has been nearly 20 years in the making. It started officially with a 30-year lease in 2008 from Seaside to the Central California Chapter of the American Youth Hostels, which paid $1 a year and planned to develop a 120-room hostel. After the national organization consolidated and shifted its focus – they built a new hostel in New Orleans – in 2017 the lease was transferred to Fort Ord Hostel Society, a local nonprofit.

Kambas comes from Santa Cruz most Saturdays to work on the property. Progress is slow, but one building was rehabilitated sufficiently to sublease to 6th Avenue Studios, supporting musical and other creative pursuits.

The property is flanked by the 122-acre Campus Town development that has broken ground, and stands to transform northern Seaside from abandoned Army property into hundreds of new residential units and a hotel. When Kambas first saw grading equipment on the hostel property one Saturday, he thought it might be a mistake. But it turns out that as the city moves forward, envisioning a park next to Campus Town, officials are done waiting for the Hostel Society to make progress.

On Dec. 12, Seaside City Attorney Sheri Damon sent a letter to Kambas terminating the lease effective Dec. 31. She cited, among other things, insufficient liability insurance, the sublease, and unaddressed hazardous materials including flaking lead paint.

The hostel group’s attorney, Alex Lorca, disputes many of these findings and responded with a cease-and-desist letter to Damon. City officials declined to speak in detail about the termination notice because it involves generally confidential matters of potential litigation and real estate, but in an email, City Manager Greg McDanel notes “a longstanding lack of sufficient progress.”

The city is open to negotiating alternate locations.

“It really is time for Seaside to move forward,” City Councilmember Alex Miller says. “We can’t make decisions on hopes and dreams. We have to have concrete plans where people can perform. After 17 years, how much longer can we wait?”

Kambas is hopeful they can buy some time, noting the lease lasts until 2038. He’s discouraged that fundraising efforts might need to shift to covering legal expenses instead of hostel design and construction, but remains optimistic about the future.

“I think the project is an asset to the city,” he says. “Everything was going fine until this happened.”