Building Removal

FORA and FORA-Assisted Building Removal History

The adopted 1997 Base Reuse Plan (BRP) provided for negotiations with the U.S. Army to allow “no cost” transfer of property to local land use jurisdictions. A major contributing consideration underlying the “no cost” Economic Development Conveyance (EDC) land transfer was the impact of cleanup and removal of over 90 years of Army buildings at the former Fort Ord.

The Army left behind approximately 3,500 buildings that offered little or no use to the civilian community, ranging in age from the 1930s to the late 1980s. These buildings have deteriorated over time, contain various forms of hazardous materials and are frequently target sites for vandalism and illegal dumping in close proximity to various occupied buildings. Jurisdictions see little or no future uses for the remaining dilapidated buildings as it is cost prohibitive to remodel the structures due to hazardous materials, health and safety and building code issues, and engineering challenges.

Since its inception, FORA has actively pursued understanding former Fort Ord building removal complexities and costs. At the same time, FORA continues to apply lessons learned to manage removal costs while protecting human health and the environment. Since 1996, FORA has removed over 500 World War II (WWII) era wooden structures (approximately 4,000,000 square feet), achieving an approximate 90% building material recycling rate (by weight). Over the course of FORA’s building removal program, the potential for job creation and economic recovery through opportunities in deconstruction, building reuse, and recycling were researched, and remediation techniques established that created efficiency and identified cost savings. FORA shared these lessons learned with California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) to establish a building removal program for their approximately 330 former Army buildings.

Building Removal Activity History

Snapshot of the Comprehensive Building Removal on the former Fort Ord to date

FORA has provided approximately $48.3 million in funding or land-sales revenue reduction to remove buildings or assist jurisdictions and their land reuse developers with removal. To date, FORA, CSUMB, the Army’s Residential Communities Initiative and the jurisdictions (with the help of their developers) have coordinated to reuse or remove buildings on the former Fort Ord. The diagram illustrates the status of building reuse and removal on the former Fort Ord.

Click HERE for a locations map illustrating building reuse and removal status.

FORA Building Removal Obligation in the City of Seaside and Marina

FORA’s building removal obligation in the City of Seaside was to expend $5.5M on building removal at the Surplus II properties, comprised of 50 acres located north of the Defense Manpower Data Center between Gigling and Colonel Durham Roads. In 2016, FORA hired an Industrial Hygienist to perform HazMat assessment of the Surplus II buildings. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2018-19 FORA contracted with a) Don Chapin to detach, cap, and repair the underground wet utilities and b) Resource Environmental, Inc. (REI) to abate and remove 20 of the 27 Surplus II buildings. FORA issued a Certificate of Substantial Completion to REI in June 2019, effectively completing FORA’s building removal obligation at Surplus II. FORA anticipates the contractors to complete the final punch list items and finalize the final closeout requirements in the first quarter of FY 2019-20.
Similarly, FORA’s building removal obligation also includes City of Marina owned Stockade property, made up of 13.4 acres located east of the Marina Equestrian Center between 9th Street and Imjin Parkway. Early in 2016, FORA and Marina staff began Stockade removal discussions. In February 2017, the FORA Board awarded an Industrial Hygienist professional services contract to Vista Environmental. Vista completed the Stockade HazMat assessment. In November 2017 the Board awarded Harris and Associates (H&A) a Services Contract. H&A has submitted 60% plans, specifications and estimates (PS&E) for Stockade building removal. FORA Board has adjusted the Stockade Building Removal Budget to $4.4M in the FY 2018-19 Capital Improvement Program.
In FY 2018-19 FORA contracted with Don Chapin to detach, cap, and repair the underground wet utilities at the Stockade. In June 2019, FORA staff issued a Notice of Intent to Advertise Invitations to Bid on the Stockade Abatement and Building Removal. Staff expects the public bidding process for abatement and demolition contractors to be complete with abatement starting in the first quarter of FY 2019-20.

The diagram below illustrates economic and job benefits by investing funds for building removals in Seaside Surplus II and the Marina Stockade.

A full history of building removal can be found in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) .