3 private housing projects to begin Oct. 1

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Matt Proietti
  • Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  The Air Force's top civil engineer has signed a lease for his future home at Bolling Air Force Base, D.C., one of 3,189 to be built by a private developer as part of a 50-year partnership with the service.

"This is nothing but good news for our Airmen and their families," said Maj. Gen. Del Eulberg, the Air Force civil engineer at Headquarters Air Force. 

"Homes are so important to us," the general said. "We need quality homes in today's Air Force to demonstrate our commitment to our Airmen and to ensure their families are well cared for while the member is deployed. Privatization is doing that."

General Eulberg is responsible for installation support functions, including housing, at 166 Air Force bases. He oversees a 60,000-person engineering force.

The Bolling AFB project begins Oct. 1, the same time as housing privatization work starts at Langley AFB, Va., and Barksdale AFB, La. Construction will be done concurrently by Pinnacle-Hunt Communities on land owned by the Air Force. As part of the real estate transaction, Pinnacle-Hunt leases the land for a 50-year term from the Air Force. During the lease term, the developer owns and maintains the homes.

The privatization project at Bolling AFB includes the demolition of 815 housing units from the early 1960s, 24 renovations and construction of 141 new three- and four-bedroom multi- and single-family homes. Privatization provides 217 officer homes and 452 enlisted homes at Bolling AFB.

A key component of privatization is the management review committee that meets monthly to resolve issues, approve budgets and review progress. Bolling, Langley and Barksdale Air Force bases will each have such a committee made up of base and installation leadership, developer representatives, base asset management officials and residents.

"It's truly a partnership," General Eulberg said. "This isn't business as usual. We have to work together as a team, and the local commander sets the tenor. Where we have this teamwork, service and the homes show the results."

While the average development period for construction and renovation of an installation's entire inventory of homes is seven years, developers reap incentives if they finish projects early. They are normally completed in four years, the general said.

"The key to the success of these projects is in keeping the homes fully occupied. To do this, the developer must make them compatible with local off-base communities and attractive to our military members and their families," he said. "With increased (basic allowance for housing), our military members and their families now have a choice on where to live."

Pinnacle Development, headquartered in Seattle, is currently working with Hunt Building Corp. of El Paso, Texas, to build and manage military family homes at Dover AFB, Del.; Scott AFB, Ill.; and Nellis AFB, Nev.

Congress implemented the Military Housing Privatization Initiative in 1996. The Air Force first sought privatization of housing that same year after determining that 45,000 of its 88,000 homes were inadequate. The Department of Defense approved the housing privatization initiative as a more timely and cost-effective way to provide military families with quality housing than the traditional military construction funding process.

The total Air Force cost to fix these housing units would have been $7.6 billion and taken 12 years to complete, assuming funding availability, General Eulberg said. The Air Force's first homes were privatized in 1998 at Lackland AFB, Texas.

The Air Force has already awarded 23 housing privatization real estate transactions at 25 installations to various builders to secure nearly 26,000 homes at a total development cost of $4.2 billion. The Air Force pays only 1/17th of the cost due to private investments, developer equity and private sector loans secured by the developer.

"Privatization has proven itself. We get the best designers, developers, and property management firms competing for these projects," General Eulberg said. "Even the financing is competed on Wall Street, and competition produces outstanding homes. Our Airmen and their families win."

Military members and their families appreciate the new homes that privatization brings, he said.

"They want in on it. These homes are better than anything we've been able to build (because) we haven't invested the funds to do so and because housing development is what these companies do."

Under privatization, construction, maintenance and future improvements are secured through monthly rent paid by Air Force members via an allotment to the developer of their basic allowance for housing payment.

"Privatization is a change in how the Air Force does business, but the benefits of the program are evident across our installations," General Eulberg said. "It's the right thing to do for our Airmen and the families." 

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