Marina Looks to Expand Businesses - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

MARINA, Calif. -- Marina Looks to Expand Businesses. This week it's all about the city of Marina!  The city and has the latest on this tiny town of 19,000 quickly growing and expanding.  

Right now the city of Marina is sandwiched between the Fort Ord National Monument and the Fort Ord Dunes State Park. Mayor Bruce Delgado said that might be changing and it's no surprise when you learn Marina's rich history and multi-cultural community

One of the new faces of Marina is right off Imjin Parkway where the city is planning to build a new movie theatre plus a new $80 million veterans clinic, an In-and-Out and many other stores and restaurants. "Us growing into a full service city is a very exciting time and it takes a lot of work. We have a long way to go but we're doing it!" said Delgado.

The theatre is expected to open in Spring 2013. With that comes one million square feet for businesses to move in next to Best Buy, Kohls and Target. 

Right down the road more than 300 homes will be built on the former Fort Ord starting this year. Marina wants to build a total 4,000 new homes. A new lightrail track to Monterey is also slated to be built by 2017, plus improved transportation for local schools.

"Just the university itself is already grown to 5,000 students. So we're becoming a university town by the ocean," said Delgado. Even though Marina's budget is tight, Mayor Delgado said it's using incentives to bring businesses in. "In spite of a bad worldwide economy and in spite of the normal obstacles that happen even in good times. The projects in Marina are progressing so that makes it especially worthy of appreciation," said Delgado.