Former Homestead Air Force Base, Fla.

Originally named Homestead Army Airfield in 1942, the Florida base was nearly destroyed by a hurricane in 1945 resulting in its temporary closure as an Air Force facility. For over a decade, Homestead operated as Dade County Airport, a civilian facility. Following the Korean War, the Air Force reactivated Homestead as a Strategic Air Command base in 1955.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew severely damaged 97 percent of the facilities at Homestead AFB, Fla. As a result, Homestead was recommended for realignment by the U.S. Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 1993. Homestead AFB was officially closed March 31, 1994. Today, a portion of the former base serves as Homestead Air Reserve Base. The remaining portion of the base is one of 40 former installations managed by the Air Force Civil Engineer Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Environmental activities
Homestead AFB was placed on the National Priorities List in 1990, resulting in a Federal Facilities Agreement with federal and state regulators. AFCEC continues to work closely with the Environmental Protection Agency and Florida Department of Environmental Protection to ensure environmental cleanup activities satisfy all regulatory standards while protecting human health and the environment. AFCEC has invested more than $38 million on BRAC cleanup actions at the former installation. Another $5.5 million is the cost to complete cleanup.

Property transfer
AFCEC achieved Whole Base Transfer in 2006. Of the original 2,938 acres, AFCEC has transferred 986 to Miami-Dade County for use as temporary housing and training of approximately 300 homeless individuals and their families as well as a regional park. The remaining acreage was retained by the Air Force to be used as Homestead Air Reserve Base.

Path forward
In 2011, AFCEC awarded a Performance-Based Remediation contract with the goal of cleaning up the remaining sites to unrestricted use by 2018. AFCEC also aims to have Homestead removed from the NPL by 2020.

(Current as of December 2012)