Seaside composes a score of possibilities for former Fort Ord redevelopment

Maybe it’ll bring the TED conference back to the Peninsula, or give Central Coast soccer players a complex of their own. It could turn East Seaside into a mini green Silicon Valley, or draw thrifty musicians up from SoCal. Or all of the above.

Seaside officials have high hopes for the redevelopment of more than 500 acres east of General Jim Moore Boulevard, from the Coe Avenue intersection to the Del Rey Oaks boundary – now mostly dirt roads and chaparral on the former Fort Ord...

In July the city convened the East Seaside Conceptual Master Plan Task Force, made up of a dozen community members, city and Cal Am staff, and Cal Am-funded consultants.

"The coolest part is, [East Seaside] can be anything that the community wants and that the traffic will bear," says task force member and Monterey County Business Council President Mary Ann Leffel. "It’s like a blank slate."

Leffel’s jazzed about the potential for a green-tech research park and an 85,000-square-foot convention center, which could attract groups needing more space than the Monterey Conference Center offers.