Whole-base transfer completed at Carswell

  • Published
  • By Summer Allen
  • Air Force Real Property Agency Public Affairs
FORT WORTH (AFPN) --  The Air Force recently completed a whole-base transfer of legacy Base Closure and Realignment property at the former Carswell Air Force Base here when the Army accepted ownership of 247 acres of property known as the weapons storage area.

In the 1940s, the former Carswell AFB was used for training, maintenance and support of bombing missions. In 1991, the Base Closure and Realignment committee selected Carswell for closure, and the base officially closed September 1993. 

"The Air Force received the Army's request, dated April 4, for the 247-acre parcel of the former Carswell AFB and recognizes the Army's demonstrated need for this property," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations Fred Kuhn in an April 30 letter addressed to Acting Army Assistant Secretary for Installations William T. Birney. 

The Army plans to use the property as a joint-use training facility to support its reserve unit, as well as the Army National Guard and Naval and Marine Corps Reserve in the Fort Worth area.

"The transfer of this excess parcel to the Army will allow construction of an Army Reserve center and organizational maintenance shop and the development of a joint-use training facility," Mr. Birney said in his letter. "This will also permit the relocation and consolidation of personnel and equipment from one Army Reserve center and three National Guard armories in the Fort Worth area." 

"The environmental program at the former Carswell AFB has been extremely successful, said BRAC Environmental Coordinator Norma Landez. A joint effort by the Air Force Real Property Agency, the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence, Aeronautical Systems Center, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 provided for closure of the majority of sites at the former installation." 

As a result, the Air Force transferred the remaining 187 acres to the Westworth Redevelopment Authority and conveyed approximately 1,700 acres to the Navy for use as a joint reserve installation. 

"We appreciate the broad-based, cooperative work done by the Air Force and the environmental regulatory agencies to complete this transfer," said Westworth Redevelopment Authority Director Leland Clemons. "Everyone's hard work will be rewarded with more jobs created over a shorter period of time, as well as private sector investment on the redevelopment properties well in excess of $150 million." 

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