Air Force closes ACC III group housing

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  • By AFCEC Public Affairs
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --  The Air Force Civil Engineer Center recently completed the transaction closing for the ACC Group III Housing Privatization project with Balfour Beatty Communities. On June 6, Balfour Beatty Communities, LLC assumed full housing operations at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, and Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

The privatization project, ACC Group Housing, LLC, valued at $64.8 million in total development costs, will provide new and renovated housing for 775 military families using only $13.5 million in government funding. Balfour Beatty Communities is responsible for the development, renovation, operation and management of six other Air Force privatization housing projects consisting of 19 installations and 14,604 units.

Under this project, the Air Force will lease land at Dyess and Moody AFBs as part of a 50-year transaction and convey 674 existing housing units at Dyess AFB. ACC Group Housing, LLC will build a total of 11 new key and essential homes, for colonels and chief master sergeants, on Moody AFB and 90 new homes for military families on land owned by the company within the next four years. Of the 674 existing units at Dyess AFB, 173 will receive minor renovations and 501 will receive extended change of occupancy maintenance. During the term of the lease, all housing units in this project will be held by ACC Group Housing, LLC and will be financed, designed, maintained and managed for the benefit of the military families serviced by these installations.

"The Air Force chose Balfour Beatty Communities, LLC after determining it offered the most advantageous proposal considering all of the criteria in the request for qualifications," said Col. Gregory McClure, chief of the portfolio management division for AFCEC's Installations Directorate. In 1996, Congress created the Military Housing Privatization Initiative as part of the National Defense Authorization Act with a goal to provide military members with quality homes faster than through traditional military construction alone. According to McClure, the Air Force has accomplished in 14 years through housing privatization what would have taken 32 years using traditional military construction, while saving taxpayers billions in the process.

"The Air Force, in partnership with our private sector partners, has privatized 100 percent of its housing in the continental U.S. and transferred 60,104 homes at 63 bases at a cost to the Air Force of $621 million vice $8.3 billion in private funding to provide quality homes for our military families. We believe the ability to offer military members quality housing and continuing family support during deployments to be a primary motivator when they are considering remaining in the Air Force," McClure said.

This sentiment has also been voiced by Kathleen Ferguson, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, in a written statement submitted for the April 12, 2013, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction-Veterans Affairs.

"Through Housing Privatization, the Air Force has invested ... to provide quality homes for Airmen much more quickly than we could have done with traditional military construction processes. We remain committed to caring for our Airmen and their families as we strive to eliminate inadequate housing by 2018, and to complete our privatized housing initiative in the United States," she said.

AFCEC, headquartered at JBSA-Lackland, is the Air Force service agent for housing privatization efforts including completing feasibility analyses, developing project concepts and solicitations, and providing continued project support throughout the term of the projects, usually 50 years.