AEDC privatized housing project underway with lease signings

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  As of Sept. 30, Forest City Military Communities LLC officially took over the housing at Arnold AFB.

The base's military members have already begun signing their leases during the first phase of the ongoing privatization project which will result in 22 new homes being built in place of the 40 existing structures.

Arnold AFB Housing Manager Mark Anderson said the new homes will mark a significant improvement over the current housing, which was originally built in 1965.

"The houses will be built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards," he said. "Therefore, we should see a significant energy savings per unit versus our 1965 built units. They will also use photovoltaic lighting and thermal solar energy generation at the community center to be built in the housing area."

Arnold AFB, along with Keesler AFB in Mississippi and Shaw AFB in Charleston, S.C., will all come under Forest City Military Communities LLC's management.

Shortly after Arnold Commander Colonel Michael Brewer signed his lease Sept. 14, he said base privatization represents a definite quality of life improvement for active duty airmen and their families who live on base.

John Hoyt, vice president of development for Forest City Communities LLC, said being in the position to bring Arnold AFB's base housing up to 21st century standards has been a great experience for everyone he represents.

"We saw this was an opportunity," he said. "I can't tell you how excited we are to kick-off our housing there - we're really excited to build a relationship with all of the families and being a partner with the Air Force."

Hoyt said the new housing will have a lot to offer the on-base residents.

"We're offering all the modern amenities," he said. "[Houses will] be three or four bedrooms, depending on rank and family status. We're going with the open family floor plans which we find to be very successful, both in the military community as well as out on the economy."

Hoyt said one housing unit will be accessible to occupants who have American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements.

"This will be a one-story house that will have all the modern amenities - what they'd find if they went off to buy a new house," he said.

Hoyt said the company he represents has a lot of experience in developing housing for a wide demographic.

He said Forest City Military Communities LLC has "a lot of experience in developing real estate. So, what we've done is we've taken that experience in developing real estate [and] combined it with our experience in developing real estate for military family housing which is a little bit of a different genre.

"It's kind of a unique niche and we have designed these houses to be the best fit for our military families. For instance, a typical stairway is a three-foot wide staircase going up, but we know that our military families move a lot. So, we have a wider staircase for our families to get in and out of. We also know that our military families like to have bulk storage and one of the problems is that the housing they live in now doesn't have enough interior bulk storage."

He said the houses were designed to avoid occupants having to resort to storing belongings in their garages.

"We've actually designed more interior bulk storage on the second floor for our residents," Hoyt said. "We also have two-car garages for all of our residents."

He also spoke about the newest energy standards.

"We've gone through many iterations of how we can make this more LEED [compliant] or green," he said. "Let's face it; one of the problems we're in today with our global crisis is because of energy consumption. All of our houses will be built to 'green' standards."

Hoyt said some technological limitations to the existing infrastructure supporting base housing will make LEED certification of the housing impractical.

"We're looking at how we can incorporate the water heating system into a more environmentally friendly system there," he said. "Instead of having a simple 40-gallon tank there, heating it 24 hours a day."

Anderson said the first phase will tentatively be complete by September 2012, with the final phase scheduled for completion by May 2013. Phase 1 work began Oct. 1 and will include grading for a new road, demolition of old housing and installation of utilities to support the new houses and 14 new homes.

"They are already working on grading and utility tie-ins," he said. "Once the road and infrastructure are in they'll start pouring concrete pads and building these new homes on the outside of the new loop drive, the area beside the lake."

The new housing will include three duplex buildings and 16 single-family homes.

"Units will range from 1,790 to 3,382 square feet, which doesn't include the two-car attached garage in that square footage," Hoyt explained. "All units [will] have a master bedroom with a private master bath and walk in closet."

A new community center is also a feature of the new base housing.

"[The] community center will co-locate Air Force housing and Forest City housing offices," Hoyt said. "In addition, the community center will have a multi-purpose room, with a kitchen, for residents to plan and host events, a dedicated business center for residents to use and last, but certainly not least, there will be an outdoor swimming pool at the community center as well."

AEDC Finance Counselor Senior Airman Tara Kindermann and her husband, Bronson, are hoping to be at Arnold long enough to transition to the new housing.

"I've been in the Air Force just over three years," said Airman Kindermann, who has already signed her lease for the new housing. "I live in base housing. [Since this is] my first assignment I don't really know what to compare it to, but it's a pretty decent house."

Their family also includes a young daughter and two dogs. Airman Kindermann has some idea of what to expect with the new homes.

"They've had rough sketches of what they anticipate it to look like," she said. "It looks nice from the outside [and] it's supposed be a lot larger home. I figure everything is going to be brand new. We shouldn't have any problems with anything, at least for awhile. I'm really excited to get into something nicer and newer and larger.

"My husband is excited as well. He's hoping to have more room for some of his belongings and I'm hoping that they'll have bigger yards as well for the dogs and cooking out."

Bronson, who enjoys living on base, is also excited about the prospects of moving into a new house.

"I like living on base because it is a short commute for my wife and I to drive to and from work," he said. "The estimated timeframe to move in to the new house - once they start construction - is around a year. We will remain in our current house on base until the new ones are built.

"The base housing is family friendly because they offer playgrounds, a walking trail and the lake. My expectations for the new housing on base are better constructed homes. I would also like to see garages and more room for a family and guests. I think it will be something the family will enjoy because there aren't many times where you get to be the first person to live in a brand new house."