Military housing reconstruction good for Picatinny service members, local economy

By Audra Calloway
Picatinny Public Affairs Office

A ground-breaking ceremony marked an important milestone for Picatinny Soldiers and their families here May 2.

The groundbreaking began the demolition phase of the Picatinny Arsenal Family Housing Privatization Project, which will eventually include the demolition of 55 existing homes, as well as the construction of 26 new homes, renovation of five historic homes and five non-historic homes, conversion of 10 existing homes into six four-bedroom homes and the development of numerous playgrounds.

The renovations are part of the Residential Communities Initiative, a partnership through which private companies manage, maintain and renovate existing family housing on installations and build new homes.

This initiative allowed the Army to establish a 50-year partnership with GMH Military Housing LLC to take advantage of private funding to develop state-of-the-art neighborhoods and housing for Army families at Picatinny.

GMH began working with Picatinny a year ago and is the Army’s partner at eight other installations.

During the groundbreaking, Picatinny Garrison Commander Col. Kerry T. Skelton said the goal of the Residential Community Initiative is to eliminate inadequate housing for service members and their families by creating a world-class quality residential community by leveraging assets through private-sector enterprise.

Skelton added, “The relationship that we developed with our RCI partner, Department of the Army RCI team and the garrison department of public works, along with GMH has clearly developed into a common vision and goal to provide the best housing we possibly can for our families.”

“On behalf of those families, that will occupy these residences, I want to commend everybody for their hard work,” he said.

Christopher Williams, GMH military housing senior vice president, who also spoke at the groundbreaking said this project was very special to his company because of the great deal of respect he and his co-workers have for the men and women of the U.S. military who defend our freedoms and liberties throughout the world.

In addition to the opportunity to improve the lives of these service members at Picatinny, Williams said this project will also help improve the Dover community by bringing $15 million in private capital into the local economy through small and locally owned businesses.

“Our history has shown that upwards of 80 percent of the projects funds are spent on local, small, disadvantaged, minority-owned and women-owned businesses,” Williams said.

“This partnership with Picatinny Arsenal and Department of the Army RCI is a true win-win for everyone who is concerned,” he added.

When complete, the 26 new houses will consist of three- and four-bedroom new homes for Soldiers and their families. The new duplex and singles homes, averaging 2,000 to 2,500 square feet, will feature 2-1/2 and 3-1/2 baths, fully equipped modern kitchens, walk-in closets and two-car garages.

Occupancy of the first homes is expected in the summer 2008.

The RCI includes 45 installations and more than 86,000 homes.