Marina’s mixed-use dream is coming to fruition, with some haters.

If you build it, they will come, the saying goes, and that is proving true in Marina’s new neighborhoods on the former Fort Ord. Years in the making, The Dunes is a mixed-use neighborhood developed by Shea Homes with commercial and residential spaces. Even when I toured one of the 84 residential units known as “Rooftops” in 2024, I struggled to see what the developer saw – in my eyes, it was still a giant asphalt lot with structures on it. (That was before a Trader Joe’s opened to much fanfare.)

Karl Waller saw the vision for this live/work/play combination years before I could visualize it. He grew up in Marina then pursued a career in supply chain management, eventually settling in Dallas. He’d return to visit his parents, and was surprised to see that even as Marina changed from the former military town it had been in his childhood, it was hard to find a place to grab dinner or a drink. Seeing the emerging Dunes development concept, Waller decided to do something to change that.

He purchased a parcel and opened a Brass Tap franchise in May of 2024, before the residential units were even up for sale. “I knew I wanted to be in Marina, reversing the trend – all my life, we took our money from Marina and spent it in a neighboring city,” Waller says. Even when he was flanked by construction, he immediately found there was an audience for a bar – for sports on the many televisions, for karaoke, for trivia, for live music on the patio, for DJ Khosmo Beatz who brought dancers on Friday nights. “I didn’t anticipate how many families would come,” Waller says. “The concept is a bar.” (His busiest days ever have been during World Cup games.)

If you build it, they will come. And they will also complain.

Waller received his first warning about noise in July last year. He moved the DJ and karaoke from the patio to indoors. He thought the problem was solved.

“I am shocked one person can ruin it for everyone.”

Then in August, he received a notice of violation from the City of Marina’s code enforcement officer, noting all music must end by 10pm, something Waller says was already happening. Then another notice of violation followed in September pertaining to karaoke night, although Waller says it ended at 10pm. (Code enforcement also checked in with The General, the bar behind Dametra just across the road, and which typically hosts a DJ on Friday nights. “We want to keep the nightlife going,” says Dmitri Reehani, manager of The General. “Hopefully this will bring more people to the area, and that’s what we need.”)

Months passed, then a third notice followed at Brass Tap on April 30, urging Waller to stay within the limits set forth in Marina municipal code. The code is vague, with no volume limit listed – excessive noise is defined as “a noise disturbance which, because of its volume level, duration or character, annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of Marina residents.”

He canceled music events.

City Councilmember Liesbeth Visscher, who represents District 4, says she will push for objective standards. “That would be a good start,” she tells Waller over a chicken sandwich at Brass Tap.

Indeed it would – Waller says he’s committed to collaborating and being a good neighbor. And neighbors are interested in a vibrant community with nightlife. Jason Digiacomo and his fiancée bought a place in The Rooftops last year and got to hanging out at the Brass Tap two or three times a week where they could sit outside with their German shepherd, Aspen, and play trivia. The emerging late-night energy and live music drew them to the neighborhood. “We bought because of that, honestly,” Digiacomo says. “I am shocked that one person can ruin it for everyone.”

(As if buyers didn’t know, mandatory disclosures include this mention about neighboring uses: “Facilities include restaurants, bars and taverns which may cause late-night noise and other disturbances.”)

Visscher notes that mixed use – residences above businesses side by side – is finally coming into being. “I understand people need to be able to sleep, but they live in a town center, so they can expect sound. I want it to be vibrant,” she says.

Looking around at newly opened El Charrito and Lalla Grill, and the older General and Cinemark theater, Visccher says: “This is what we wanted.”

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com.