Despite questions, developer gets support to turn dilapidated Army buildings into homes.

Seaside developer Al Glover, 86, is doing something no one’s ever done before on the former Fort Ord: He’s fixing up old buildings, and removing asbestos and lead paint – in this case, two structures known as the “Nurses Barracks” – to turn them into housing.

The development is also unusual in other ways: Neither Glover nor the city of Seaside yet have title to the land – it’s still being in held in trust by the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, and is expected to transfer to the city next March. The city would then sell it Glover.

But workers are nonetheless busy ridding the buildings of asbestos, and making other fixes – Glover secured all the necessary permits to that end, and he expects to finish the project by next March – which is in part why Seaside City Council voted unanimously on May 17 to enter into an agreement with Glover for him to buy the five-acre property from the city for $750,000.

The agreement, as originally proposed, was not without controversy: There was no language ensuring any of the 40 units would be affordable housing, and the city was claiming an exemption from its own ordinance – which requires at least 20-percent of new housing units to be affordable – because rehabbing existing structures made it exempt.

But after letters from local land-use watchdogs Landwatch and Keep Fort Ord Wild, which called out the lack of affordable housing in the proposal, City Manager Craig Malin sat down with Glover. They hammered out two additional sentences to the agreement that would make eight of the development’s 40 units affordable.

Keep Fort Ord Wild also had other concerns, mainly whether the environmental review process was being properly followed, as well as about the water supply for the project, but the council remained supportive of the proposal.

Another issue Landwatch’s letter raised was about a potential gift of public funds, which is prohibited under state law unless there’s a public purpose. The city’s own assessment values the property at $3.4 million. Minus remediation costs, which the city estimates will be around $2 million, as well as unknowns – “risk pricing,” in the city’s words – the five-acre property is valued at under $1 million.

Still, even under the approved agreement, the sale price remains tentative, and an assessment will be made within 60 days of the sale, but the inclusion of affordable units provides an argument that a public benefit will come along with it.

Glover, who has lived and worked in Seaside since the mid-1970s, and who has developed a number of properties in the city and elsewhere in the Monterey Peninsula, says he’s not out to make a quick buck.

“It’s not all about money for me,” he says, adding that he hopes his grandkids will one day manage the apartment building. “It’s about families and helping people help themselves.”

Categorically speaking, Glover says he doesn’t like the idea of subsidized housing – he believes in people helping themselves – but he says the project came about in part because of what he saw as a worsening housing crisis in the city he calls home.

“The housing market here has changed significantly over the past 40 years, but I’ve never seen it this bad,” Glover says.