Air Force projects could mean work for contractors

Senior Airman Marvin Richardson (right) and Master Sgt. Randall Pickenpaugh muscle up to the weight of the Improved Float Bridge system shipped from Joint Base Charleston on Aug. 18. About 40 sections of bridge, which along with three boats which act as waterborne mooring vehicles, are headed for Afghanistan. (Photo/U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Lauren Main) Forest City Military Communities LLC has been picked by the Air Force to demolish all existing military housing at Joint Base Charleston, Shaw Air Force base in Sumter and two other locations in the Southeast. The company plans to use regional general contractors for much of the work expected to being next spring.

Andy Owens
aowens@scbiznews.com
Published Sept. 1, 2010

A demolition and construction project at the Charleston Air Force Base and Shaw Air Force Base could result in millions of dollars worth of work for area contractors.

The U.S. Air Force picked Cleveland-based Forest City Military Communities LLC to demolish all existing military housing at Joint Base Charleston and construct 345 new housing units over the next four years.

The $270 million deal also includes similar work for military family housing at three other installations, including Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, in an effort to privatize the operations and get rid of inadequate housing.

“We do have a general contractor who did bid with us for the work for the Air Force,” said Jeff Linton, Forest City’s investor relations manager. “There will certainly be opportunities for other local subcontractors to get involved.”

Forest City was the highest-ranked bidder, the Air Force said. The other installations that fall under the agreement include Arnold Air Force Base in Manchester, Tenn., and Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss.

Under the deal, the Air Force will lease 279 acres of land at Joint Base Charleston as part of a 50-year transaction and convey 479 existing inadequate housing units to Forest City.

Forest City will demolish all existing units and, within three years, construct 345 new units that will exceed the current standards for military housing, the Air Force said.

“While there is a general contractor with extensive experience in building homes for military families across the country named as a part of our proposal to the Air Force, we typically utilize specialty contractors around the region of each base where we are involved with a military family housing project,” said Gary McManus with Forest City Military Communities.

At the four installations combined, the Air Force will lease a total of 846 acres of land and convey 2,387 existing housing units. By the end of the three-year initial development period, Forest City will have demolished 1,199 existing housing units and constructed 997 new housing units.

Forest City will continue to operate and maintain a portfolio of 2,185 housing units across the four bases for a 50-year term.

McManus, who worked directly in preparing the bid for Forest City, said the project now enters a seven-month period of negotiations between Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment and Forest City, which hopes to close the deal in March.

“No demolition activity can occur until the closing transaction is accomplished,” McManus said. “So, the best answer to your question of when demolition work can/may begin at Charleston and Shaw AFBs, as well as the other Southern Group bases, is next spring.”

The Air Force’s housing privatization effort has been conducted at 43 installations in the continental United States with almost 70% of family housing being privatized, totaling approximately 38,000 units, the Air Force said.

Housing Privatization has eliminated nearly 35,000 substandard housing units, the Air force said, under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative of 1996, which authorized the Air Force to partner with the private sector development communities to provide quality homes for airmen and their families faster than traditional Military Construction Programs.

“Families will not be displaced during the demolition phase. They have been moved into other pre-existing housing on the base,” said Trisha Gallaway, 437th Airlift Wing public affairs in Charleston. “Through privatization, Forest City will construct a minimum of 345 new units. The base no longer has the high demand for base housing as in the past.”