Air base graced with new housing
Project is part of nationwide push
Airman First Class Tim Althoff thought he was in trouble when he was called in to his sergeant's office. Despite his unblemished record, Althoff, sitting across from his stone-faced boss, braced for the worst.
The Cincinnati native is the most junior enlisted person at Hanscom Air Force Base and was shocked to learn that he had been selected as the first recipient for new base housing.
"I walked out of there in total shock," said Althoff. "I went home, told my wife, and she started planning for new furniture."
Althoff's new home is among 80 units built at Hanscom in the first phase of a much larger plan to improve military housing. An additional 704 new units are planned for the Bedford base.
The 80 units replace outmoded housing that was torn down. At a ceremony Tuesday afternoon, Althoff cut a red, white and blue ribbon to dedicate the project.
"It is an honor to be the first person," Althoff, who has been in the Air Force since November 2005, said in an interview with the Globe. "It was always a dream of mine to live in a new home. My dad built his own house, and even though I didn't build this one, I'll have the opportunity to live in a new place."
Military officials and Bedford town leaders gathered in the duplex's two-car garage where the national anthem was sung and a prayer was offered to keep the Althoffs save in their spacious new home. After handshakes and hugs Althoff proudly showed off his new home with his wife, Alcy. The program under which the new Hanscom housing is being built, the Military Housing Privatization Initiative, is providing $21 billion for new projects across the country to provide affordable housing and improve quality of life. Under the initiative, the Department of Defense works with private contractors to develop, build, and renovate housing on military bases.
In October 2004, Hanscom hired American Eagle Family Housing to revamp its base housing. A division of American Eagle Communities LLC, the Dallas company works specifically on improving and maintaining military lodging. American Eagle has entered into a 50-year lease with the federal government to develop and manage rental housing on the Bedford base.
Hanscom started out with 850 aging apartments for its 2,700 residents. By the end of 2009, there will be 784 new, larger units. Of those, 314 will be single-family homes for officers and 470 will be clustered homes for enlisted personnel.
Dale Ciardelli, the Hanscom housing privatization assessment manager, said most of the old housing was built in the mid-1950s, with other units developed in the 1960s and a few in the 1990s.
"They really are outdated," said Ciardelli. "They are a town-house style with antiquated infrastructure. It really is a substandard quality of life."
Thomas Swain, managing director of American Eagle Communities, said his company is looking to change that. The $200 million project at Hanscom is razing buildings and building new units over a six-phase process. The plan is well underway and by the end of June, 132 military families will be moved into new homes, Swain said.
"We are giving these families what you would expect to find in a high-middle-class neighborhood," said Swain. "It is a fair deal and our service members deserve it."
The new units are a far cry from the military housing of years past.
According to Maggie Welvell, project director for American Eagle, all units will have oversized, attached two-car garages, three or four bedrooms, patios, Corian countertops, walk-in closets, and adequate space for storage.
Only three- and four-bedroom homes will be built because they are the most in demand for base housing. Significant improvements to the landscape are also planned; neighborhoods will be connected through pedestrian ways, with parks and recreational facilities.
A community center, various neighborhood centers, and bike paths are also planned.
Colonel Thomas J. Schluckebier, 66th Air Base Wing commander, said he is confident that solid planning will lead to better lives for his men and women.
"People are for and against the military for a variety of reasons, but no one is against providing the troops with the very best," said Schluckebier. "Housing is a highly emotional issue for families, and a better quality of life will lead to them doing a better job."
Schluckebier said 52 percent of the personnel on base are in the Air Force and 38 percent are in the Army, Navy, and Marines. A majority of those men and women have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan at least once.
Schluckebier said, "Families make a lot of sacrifices and this is a way to give them something back."
Melissa Beecher can be reached for comment at mbeecher@globe.com. 