1140 Palm Avenue

Seaside Is Where the Peninsula Is Still BuildingIn 1888 Dr. John L. D. Roberts bought 160 acres from his uncle and laid out a subdivision called East Monterey, betting on traffic from the nearby Hotel Del Monte. By 1891 it had a post office and a Southern Pacific stop, and before the turn of the century it had a new name: Seaside. In 1910 Roberts invited the Army onto his land, and Camp Gigling, the beginning of Fort Ord, followed in 1912. The city incorporated in 1954. Most of the Peninsula is defined by how little it changes. Seaside is the exception. Part of the former Fort Ord, which closed in 1994, lies inside city limits, and the projects planned there make Seaside one of the few places on the Peninsula where whole new neighborhoods are being built. Three Eras of Housing in One CitySeaside's older neighborhoods hold many single-family homes built in the 1950s and 1960s on lots of roughly a sixteenth to a quarter acre, and Del Monte Heights, a mile east of downtown, was laid out as early as 1909. Seaside Highlands, built in 2003 and 2004, has homes of about 2,500 to 2,800 square feet with association dues. The Enclave at Bayonet Black Horse, a gated community along the golf courses, added homes in 2022 and 2023 that listed above $2 million. Manufactured homes in parks such as Green Parrot on Kimball Avenue round out the range, and in October 2026 two-unit properties with accessory dwellings were listed from about $875,000 to $1.05 million. What Is ComingA 122-acre project between Lightfighter Drive and Gigling Road broke ground in April 2025 and plans 842 for-sale homes, about 600 apartments, retail and a hotel over roughly 10 years. Its first phase of 242 homes was expected to go vertical in summer 2026. Near Highway 1, the city chose a developer in February 2026 to negotiate plans for the 60-acre Main Gate site, including a hotel, a new county courthouse, retail and housing. Downtown, the West Broadway Urban Village plan covers about 40 acres around Broadway, Canyon Del Rey Boulevard and Palm Avenue, and Broadway Avenue itself is slated for a road diet with roundabouts and protected bike lanes. Golf, Dunes and the Bay TrailBayonet was built in 1954 and Black Horse opened in 1964; the city bought both courses in 1997, and the pair hosted the 2012 PGA Professional National Championship. Fort Ord Dunes State Park, opened in 2009, has nearly 1,000 acres of dunes and about four miles of beach off the Lightfighter Drive exit, with a campground under construction. Laguna Grande Regional Park, a lake and marsh on the Seaside and Monterey line managed by a joint powers agency since 1976, hosts a Thursday farmers market, and the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail runs along the shore. A Few Questions Worth Asking DirectlyWho supplies the water? Most of Seaside is on Cal Am, which cannot add new connections under a 2009 state order now under review. Former Fort Ord areas are served by Marina Coast Water District, where a cap on new residential groundwater hookups is nearly fully allocated. The Pure Water Monterey expansion, completed in October 2025, injects purified recycled water into the Seaside groundwater basin beneath the city. Can I rent short term? Yes, within a license system. Hosted rentals in the owner's principal residence have no cap, while non-hosted licenses are limited to 90 citywide, one per parcel, with a 55-foot buffer between licensed parcels. The transient occupancy tax is 12 percent. What do homes sell for? Redfin reported a median near $806,000 for the three months ending June 2026, with a median of 20 days on market. Closed sales from mid-July to mid-August 2026 mostly fell between about $500,000 and $1.1 million. How close is Monterey? Very. Seaside sits about two and a quarter miles from Monterey, and the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail links the two along the shore, while Fort Ord National Monument's 86-plus miles of trails open up to the east. Carmel Luxury Group helps buyers compare a resale on an established Seaside street with new homes on former Fort Ord land on equal terms, from water service and association rules to rental licensing. If Seaside is on your list, we would be glad to start a confidential consultation.