Signs of life in Marina mean long-stalled developments could start moving.

When the Water City roller rink closed down last month to replace a damaged electrical panel, it cost six days of lost business, plus $9,000 for the work. 


As husband-and-wife proprietors Mark Tanous and Jennifer Holmes renegotiate their lease with the city of Marina, they’re also juggling parking lot light installations and a bathroom expansion to comply with ADA guidelines. 


The added costs hit an already low-margin enterprise. “The reality is, you can’t make any money at this,” Tanous says. “You can make more money storing pallets.”


But after 17 years in the roller-rink business, Tanous says revenue is up for the first time in years. He and Holmes bought all of Del Monte Gardens’ skates after the Monterey rink closed last year, and they say more people are coming to the $2-per-hour weekend public skates than ever before.


“Not only does public skate serve the community, it also is our way back into a healthy financial situation,” Tanous says. 


Skaters aren’t the only newcomers to Marina. Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula’s $20 million Peninsula Wellness Center, which opened nearly a year ago, is already nearing its 3,000 member capacity.


Mayor Bruce Delgado says the successful developments are encouraging further growth. Last month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced plans for an $80 million, three-story clinic near the wellness center, a perk Delgado says helped make the site competitive in the V.A.’s eyes. 


“We’re filling in the gaps that were left behind when the Army closed,” Delgado says. “These would be significant developments for any city, but particularly for Marina.”


On April 17, the City Council unanimously agreed to proceed with a new developer, Roseville-based Silverado Homes, for a senior community at Cypress Knolls. Since the city cut ties with the original developer, Front Porch, in 2008, it’s spent about $963,000 on the site. It’s now facing a $300,000 claim from the most recently shunned developer, Coastal Rim Properties. 


And the nearby 429-acre Dunes at Monterey Bay, where housing stalled just as the market tanked, is still growing its retail development. A deal currently in escrow with Cinemark is expected to close by the end of April. The developers intend to build the multiplex movie theater next to Best Buy, with a scheduled opening in the spring of 2013. 


With all of that momentum, Delgado says, wooing restaurants will be easier. 


“We have not given up on In-N-Out,” he says. “When you get a theater and a clinic and a wellness center, those make restaurants more possible because there’s more commerce.”