Two Colorado Springs Air Force bases are poised to get 839 new homes, which could bolster the city’s homebuilding industry as it works its way through a slump.
In the next three years, Nashville, Tenn.-based Actus Lend Lease will build 242 homes at Shriever Air Force Base, which never has had housing. At Peterson AFB, it will build 597 homes, renovate 53 and demolish 440.
Actus Lend Lease’s contract with the U.S. Air Force also includes Los Angeles Air Force Base in California. Housing there was built in 1982, so most of the work will be renovations.
The company will develop pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, community centers, playgrounds and other amenities in each of the communities, which will be called Tierra Vista Communities.
The communities are designed to be energy-efficient and sustainable.
Actus Lend Lease has a 50-year contract with the Air Force for development, construction, management and maintenance of the projects.
“The Air Force built great homes but didn’t have the money to do the maintenance,” said Bob Mathis, vice president of portfolio management for Actus Lend Lease.
More than $254 million of development, including $232 million in Colorado Springs, is planned in the first six years, and about $881 million is planned over the life of the partnership.
Actus Lend Lease will act as the general contractor. About 80 percent of the subcontractors it hires will be local. The company has created a program aimed at letting smaller businesses compete for the work.
Up to 50 jobs, including property managers and maintenance employees, also will be created as a result of the project.
“We want to be a good corporate citizen in the area,” Mathis said.
But the biggest benefit to Colorado Springs will be the boost the project gives to a slumping housing industry, said Mike Kaz mierski, president and chief executive of the Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp.
“It does hit us at a great time,” he said. “To get something like this moving will help our housing industry get through this bump. They’ll start hiring contractors to get things going. They’ll help us move out of our slump here a little quicker.”
Over the last month, Actus Lend Lease has sold bonds to finance the project. The company, which was awarded the project in April, delayed the sale by about 30 days because of unstable financial markets.
Military housing privatization is a result of a 1996 congressional initiative to replace substandard housing for members of the armed forces. It would have cost up to $20 billion for the Department of Defense to improve and replace the homes. The government couldn’t afford it, so it turned to private developers.
Since then, Actus Lend Lease has developed nearly 40,000 homes on military bases throughout the country. Its projects include 4,456 homes at Fort Campbell, Ky.; 2,226 homes at Fort Knox, Ky.; and 5,912 homes at Fort Hood, Texas.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
