A different approach is fueling new housing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, at a time when many civilian markets are feeling the pinch of a slow economy.

Officials gathered Tuesday at the base to kick off the new privatized project, where Balfour Beatty Communities now manages and operates family housing.

The afternoon groundbreaking ceremony culminated with Col. Steve Tanous, 30th Space Wing commander, climbing into heavy equipment to demolish a vacant house.

“This is really a special day in the history of Vandenberg Air Force Base,” Tanous said, adding that the Air Force focuses on quality-of-life issues for airmen. “What we've got here is a partnership between Balfour Beatty and Vandenberg Air Force Base that is going to be a real success story for our airmen ... At the end of the day, we're going to have world class housing for airmen across the spectrum, which is something we've always been striving for.”

Before new housing goes up, old structures must come down - the first did so with a helping hand from Tanous.

As a group of children shouted orders from across the street, Tanous maneuvered the heavy equipment's big claw to take huge chunks from the structure, drawing cheers from his young commanders as the roof and walls gave way. They screamed in approval as Tanous rolled the tracks a few feet to begin knocking down more walls on the other end of the structure.

Prior to the demolition, the family that just moved out of the house - Lt. Col. Tom Steele, his wife Tina and their children, Alex, Ben and Kayla - joined top officials to grab shovels and turn dirt. The Steeles now live across the street from their former residence.

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The privatization project is a big departure because the Air Force, like the other services, traditionally built and operated on-base housing that is used by military members with families who choose not to live in nearby communities.

“Everybody's a little skeptical about having some privatized housing come in, but these guys have been outstanding, and the way they've teamed up with Vandenberg and the people who live and work here is beyond, I think, anybody's expectations. It's just been outstanding,” said Steele, commander of the National Reconnaissance Office at Vandenberg. “I'm really glad to see this start.”

In an era of tight budgets, Congress decided in 1996 that the Defense Department could partner with private firms, which will serve as landlord while building new homes, fixing up run-down structures and demolishing old ones.

“The idea is, rather than spending money rehabbing homes that are out of date and built in the '50s and '60s, is to create new homes that are equal to what airmen and their families could find out in the local community,” said Bob Rulli, regional vice president of Balfour Beatty.

This program allows continuation of Vandenberg's stalled housing-replacement program, which completed several phases and has brought more than 800 new units to the base since the mid-1990s. Those structures replaced aging homes built in the 1960s.

On Nov. 1, Vandenberg contracted with the former GMH Military Housing to take over operations and management of 1,336 homes on base. Rather than get free housing in lieu of receiving a housing allowance, military members will lease homes from the private firm, using allowance to pay rent.

Under current requirements, Vandenberg would be left with just shy of 900 homes once the project is done.

In the first five years of the 50-year contract, the firm will build 164 new three- and four-bedroom homes for senior officers, demolish 502 existing homes, renovate 703 existing homes, building a 6,600-square-foot community center, and construct a mini-storage facility. The first of the new homes should be ready for occupancy in 2009, officials said.

New homes will be Mediterrean/Spanish ranch-style structures. Rather than long-streets of homes, the contractors will continue to develop smaller neighborhoods with cul-de-sacs and green belts, similar to newer housing areas on base.

Balfour Beatty Communities is the manager and developer of the project. Meyer Architecture and Planning and Hensel Phelps Construction Co. are responsible for the architecture, engineering and construction of the project.

GMH Military Housing, a division of GMH Communities Trust, sold April 30 to United Kingdom-based Balfour Beatty for $350.5 million. The new owner is an international engineering, construction, investment and services group. The military housing business, Balfour Beatty Communities, is involved in military housing projects on more then 40 military bases.

May 14, 2008