Team wins
$250 mil
Navy jobThe mainland venture says
local firms are getting
some contracts
A partnership of two mainland companies has been awarded a $250 million contract to build and renovate nearly 2,000 Oahu homes for the Navy.
The contract is the first phase of a military housing privatization package that is expected to pump $1 billion into Hawaii's economy over the next decade.
The partnership, Hawaii Military Communities LLC, is made up of Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc., a real estate development firm, and Texas-based construction firm C.F. Jordan LP.
Hawaii Military Communities has also teamed with 19 Hawaii businesses, including Construction Management & Development; Helber, Hastert & Fee Planners; and Quad Design Group, Inc.
"We partnered with a lot of local companies who have been consultants for architecture, planning, civil engineering, landscape design, as well as demolition and construction," said Hawaii Military Communities President Thomas Henneberry.
He said he expects even more work for local firms.
"This is a huge project so we will be bidding a tremendous amount of work for this so that number will grow tremendously," he said.
Hawaii Military Communities will build or renovate 1,948 Navy housing units in the Halsey Terrace, Radford Terrace, Moanalua Terrace, Hokulani and McGrew Point housing areas.
U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, the ranking member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said 960 homes will be demolished and replaced with 908 single-family homes or duplexes. The other existing homes will be renovated.
Construction is scheduled to begin next year, and be complete in 2008, according to Inouye. The Hawaii Democrat said the deal will provide better homes for military families, while creating jobs for isle workers.
Hawaii Military Communities, which hasn't opened a Hawaii office yet, will own, manage, and maintain the homes for 50 years.
Henneberry, who is also chief operating officer for Forest City, said total development cost for the five neighborhoods covered under the contract is estimated at $358 million. In exchange for developing the project, the company will receive rental income from the homes over the 50 years.
The company now must enter into negotiations with the Navy on terms of the contract.
"We will enter into the exclusive negotiation phase to work through the legal arrangements of our contract. The projected turnover date is the end of March," Henneberry said.
Hawaii Military Communities' partner C.F. Jordan already has Hawaii construction experience.
The company recently completed the Navy's new commissary and exchange mall at Pearl Harbor. It also has worked on other military housing privatization projects on the mainland.
The losing bidder for the Navy project was Actus Lend Lease of Napa, Calif.
Actus recently won the nearly $7 billion Army housing privatization contract in Hawaii, while Fluor Hawaii LLC, a joint venture of Hunt Building Co. and Fluor Federal Services, was recently awarded the $80 million contract for development of Ford Island.
The Army contract calls for the building or renovating of 7,700 housing units. It is expected to create thousands of jobs during the first 10-year period when $1.7 billion is slated to be spent.
The Air Force also will privatize half of its family housing units on Hickam Air Force base. Its plans call for retaining 1,284 housing units while privatizing 1,356.
