Water damage slows affordable housing development in downtown Monterey.

As the list of people looking to move into the 18 affordable apartments at the Monterey Hotel grows, the city of Monterey is scrambling to clean up rainwater damage from El Niño storms over the winter.

While the exterior on the Calle Principal side of the Monterey Hotel had been “weatherized” a few years ago, says City Property Manager Rick Marvin, the apartments hadn’t been touched since the original developer defaulted on redevelopment loans to the city during the financial crisis of 2008.

Over the winter, rainwater pooled on the walkways along the courtyard in center of the building on the second and third floors, Marvin says. The water then flowed under the unfinished doors of the apartments, causing damage inside, and leaked through the floors, causing damage on the first floor as well.

In November 2015, City Council allocated $1.2 million to finish the below market rate apartments in the city’s revitalized downtown. The project had sat untouched since 2008, and completion of the project was originally slated for this summer.

The city must now have an environmental engineering firm deem the units environmentally clean before construction can begin, says the developer, Dan Silverie. The project should only take four months to complete once it is confirmed there is no mold or rot from the damage, he says.

In the time being, middle – and low-income residents keep inquiring about the affordable units on prime real estate.

“Oh my God, if I had 100 of these I could rent them all,” Silverie says.