ALAMEDA — Up to $40 million could be spent over the next five years to convert surplus federal property in the city’s West End into a place that will provide medical and other services to the homeless.

The building complex on McKay Avenue sits on a portion of the same former federal property now being redeveloped by the East Bay Regional Park District as an expansion of Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach.

The future “Medical Respite & Wellness Center” will be just off Central Avenue and on the street that leads into Crab Cove Visitor Center.

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The Alameda Point Collaborative, which provides services at the former Alameda Naval Air Station to people who were once homeless, is behind the project.

City officials announced Monday that the collaborative had received conditional approval from the federal government for the no-fee conveyance of the approximately 3.65-acre site.

“The federal homeless accommodation process is a valuable tool for identifying and preserving land and property for serving the homeless, but it doesn’t replace or override the need for community support of a project like this,” said Doug Biggs, the colloborative’s executive director. “We are absolutely committed to creating a project that enhances the appeal of the neighborhood, serves critical needs of people who can’t care for themselves, and most importantly, contributes significantly to reducing homelessness in Alameda.”

The work to rehabiltate the buildings, which once housed offices for the Department of Agriculture, the General Services Administration and Military Sealift Command, is expected to take between three and five years.

The cost will range between $35 million and $40 million with funding coming from federal and state sources dedicated to providing medical and housing services for the homeless, according to the city.

The Alameda Point Collaborative plans to establish an advisory group of community members to help guide the project, which still must be reviewed during public hearings over its design and other issues.

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When the center is complete, it will mostly serve seniors who are homeless, and those who have what the collaborative described as “complex medical and persistent mental health conditions.”

The center also will offer assistance to those who are on the brink of homelessness with the goal of helping them back into a stable living situation.

“The dedication to our community by the Alameda Point Collaborative in partnering to proactively address the homeless issue is going to transform the city’s approach to providing services to our most vulnerable,” City Manager Jill Keimach said. “Now it is critical to get the involvement of all stakeholders — residents, consumers, and service providers, so that we can work together to create an innovative, safe, and thriving center.”

Monday’s announcement comes as crews are now working to redevelop a portion of the property for expanding Crown beach, a project that followed a citizen’s group campaigning to rezone the land as open space.

Tim Lewis Communities, a Roseville-based developer, wanted to construct up to 48 homes on the site after bidding about $3 million to purchase the property during a General Services Administration auction in 2011.

The East Bay Regional Park District, however, was eyeing the property after voters in Alameda and Contra Costa counties approved Measure WW in November 2008. The measure supported the preservation and expansion of the park district.

A citizen’s group gathered more than 6,000 signatures on a petition calling for the site to be designated as open space, enough to place the issue before voters and prompting the City Council to rezone the site — a decision that effectively killed the plan to build homes on the property.