JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C. –
Joint Base Charleston will hold its first housing privatization Town-Hall meeting at the Base Theater, Dec. 14 at 5:30 p.m. Colonel Martha Meeker, JB CHS commander and Forest City Military Communities, LLC, will define the way ahead for the air base portion of the privatization project. Specific presentations will include new home designs, site planning design, community center design, as well as other amenities. Leasing, property management, maintenance, scheduling, etc., will be described in detail by Forest City. There will also be time for questions and answers. The target audience is for all current and prospective residents of JB CHS-Air Base.
Forest City is the Highest Ranked Offeror that will privatize military family housing at four installations in the continental United States: Joint Base Charleston, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., Arnold Air Force Base, T.N., and Keesler Air Force Base, Ms. The Air Force Southern Group Housing Privatization Project, a deal valued at $270 million in development costs, will result in the demolition of all, but 10 existing Air Force military family housing units at Joint Base Charleston and the construction of 335 new housing units during the next four years.
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 and other improvements to Forest City. Forest City will in-turn demolish all 469 existing units and construct 335 new units that will exceed the current standards for military housing within four years of closing the deal. 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 four-year initial development period, Forest City will have demolished 1199 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.
The Air Force's housing privatization effort has been successful at 43 installations in the continental United States with almost 70 percent of family housing being privatized, totaling approximately 38,000 units. Housing Privatization has eliminated nearly 35,000 inadequate units Air Force-wide and is providing an average of 500 new and renovated homes per month. In 2009, 4,087 new homes were built and 2,654 were renovated. Beyond the Southern Group Project, the Air Force is looking to privatize approximately 14,000 additional units at 16 installations over