Press Release: Aurora selected as highest-ranked offeror in JBER housing privatization project

  • Published
  • By Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment
  • Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Release Number: 090211

Ensuring quality of life is a top Air Force priority, and on Jan. 21, as part of an ongoing effort to provide quality housing to Airmen and their families, the Air Force announced the selection of Aurora Military Housing III, LLC as the highest-ranked offeror for the remaining military family housing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Aurora is comprised of Hunt Development Group, LP of El Paso, Texas, and JL Properties, Inc. of Anchorage, Alaska.

The Air Force selected Aurora after a competitive solicitation process led by the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment. AFCEE's Housing Privatization deputy division chief, Ian Smith, is confident the choice will result in outstanding homes for military members.

"Aurora's existing knowledge of the program and their limited learning curve will enable them to build upon past successes and maintain a successful project," Mr. Smith said. "This is a great win for our military members and their families."
The JBER project is unique in that the Army, rather than pursue a separate privatization project, elected to join with the Air Force in providing quality homes for soldiers.

Aurora is one of HP's longest standing partnerships, with managed family housing at Elmendorf Air Force Base since 2001, and is consistently one of the strongest projects in the Air Force portfolio. Under the terms of this agreement, the Air Force will convey 1,242 homes and other improvements to the developer.

In 1996, Congress created the Military Housing Privatization Initiative as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. The goal was to provide military members with quality homes faster than through military construction alone.

The Air Force Housing Privatization program in 10 years has provided approximately 38,000 homes to military families at 44 bases around the country, at an Air Force cost of $423 million. That same effort via military construction would have cost $7 billion and taken 25 years. In 2010, private sector partners delivered an average of 530 new and renovated homes per month, as well as numerous community centers, pools, sports courts, playgrounds and dog parks for residents. These amenities provide thriving housing communities for military members and their families.

AFCEE, headquartered at Lackland AFB, Texas, serves as the primary Air Force Service agent for worldwide Housing Privatization efforts including completing feasibility analyses, developing project concepts and solicitations, and providing support to the integrated acquisition teams that execute projects.

For more information, please contact Mike Briggs, AFCEE Public Affairs chief, at 210-395-8637 or e-mail HPinfo@us.af.mil.