Prospective 'landlords' visit Vance

  • Published
  • By Public Affairs
  • Public Affairs
Vance Air Force Base, Okla. --  Vance Air Force Base played host Wednesday to several developers and investors interested in participating in the Air Force's largest single housing privatization project.
Vance was the second stop on a tour conducted by Air Education and Training Command to familiarize real estate, property management and financial professionals with its Group II Housing Privatization Project.
The housing privatization program was initiated by the Department of Defense in 1996 to speed up the revitalization of family housing. The Air Force estimates that nearly 40,000 of its existing military family housing units are considered inadequate by today's standards. Housing officials say it would cost more than $7 billion and take over 12 years to revitalize substandard housing through traditional military housing programs.
During the group's visit, the potential bidders received a base and mission briefing, as well as visiting existing housing.
"We showed them older units that needed to be replaced, as well as the new units," said Lt. Col. Robert Brumley, 71st Mission Support Group deputy commander. "Then we told them the new units represented the minimum standards that we'd like in future developments."
"The tours help potential bidders better undertand what will be expected when, and if, they choose to participate when requests for proposals go out next month," Colonel Brumley said.
AETC's Group II Housing Privatization project includes approximately 4,000 housing units at seven bases: Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.; Columbus AFB and Keesler AFB, Miss.; Goodfellow AFB, Laughlin AFB and Randolph AFB, Texas, and Vance.
"While the Air Force has worked hard to maintain and revitalize our aging family housing, the quality of many of our units is just not where it should be," said Col. Leonard Patrick, AETC civil engineer. "This project is going to enable AETC to get there much faster and at a much lower cost."
Prior to the base visits, nearly 250 prospective developers attended AETC's industry and financial forum Aug. 23-25 in New York City for a program overview.