California firm
lands Hickam
housing dealThe contract is worth $1 billion
over 50 years, but still needs
an OK from Congress
The California company that won a $7 billion Army housing contract for Oahu in August has been awarded a similar deal for Hickam Air Force Base, worth $1.1 billion over 50 years.
The Air Force announced yesterday that Actus Lend Lease, of Napa, Calif., has been chosen to build or renovate 1,356 housing units on the base. Initial development cost is $300 million, according to the Air Force. However, gross revenues from the deal are expected to reach $1.1 billion over the 50-year contract.
Actus Lend Lease will rent the homes to Air Force families.
Of the 2,658 housing units at Hickam, Actus will build 638 new ones, and perform major renovations on 178 and minor repairs on 540.
Construction is expected to begin in April and be completed by February 2009.
Actus' Army contract at Schofield Barracks calls for building or renovating 7,700 units. More than $1.7 billion is expected to be spent during the first 10-years of that 50-year contract.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye said that although Actus is based in California, he has been told it intends to subcontract a fair amount of the work to local companies and use Hawaii banks for financing.
"This will help rev up our economy," Inouye said. "It will also mean jobs for Hawaii's working men and women."
Air Force spokesman First Lt. Paradon Silpasornprasit said, "The shortage of quality affordable housing available to military service members and their families has reached a point where quality of life, and, hence, recruitment, retention, and readiness area are at risk.
"More than 50 percent of Air Force owned and operated family housing does not meet modern standards and requires either major improvement or replacement."
Last week, the Navy announced that Hawaii Military Communities -- a partnership of Cleveland-based real estate development firm Forest City Enterprises and Texas-based construction firm C.F. Jordan LP -- was awarded a $250 million contract to build or renovate 2,000 housing units for Hawaii's Navy families.
Actus was the losing bidder on that project, which is expected to boost Hawaii's construction trades and other business with an infusion of $1 billion over the next decade.
Construction on the Navy units will begin next year and is expected to be completed by 2008. Under that contract, 960 Navy homes will be demolished and replaced with 908 single-family homes or duplexes. The remaining homes will be renovated.
CF Jordan last year completed construction of the Navy's new shopping mall near Pearl Harbor, which consolidated its commissary, base exchange and retail outlets under one roof.
These multi-billion dollar military housing projects allow a developer to own and operate the housing, making and maintaining them while collecting rent from the inhabitants for 50 years. The rents are equal to what a military person now gets for housing. Until 2006, electricity, water and sewage costs will be included in the rent allowance.
All of the military housing contracts are contingent on congressional approval.
