Jones Lang LaSalle
Ft. Dix facilities, roles will grow
$40.7M reserve center is among projects planned
Saturday, March 11, 2006
By LARRY HANOVER
Staff Writer
FORT DIX -- This sprawling Burlington County base may have barely survived being on the base-closing hit list in 1988 and 1991, but it is now in line for one of its largest construction projects in recent memory.
A $40.7 million Army Reserve Center is scheduled to be built starting this fall at Fort Dix as its merger with McGuire Air Force Base and Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station begins taking shape, U.S. Rep. James Saxton, R-Mount Holly, announced earlier this week.
"This is a huge deal and the biggest construction project, in terms of dollars -- and I'd suspect square feet -- that's ever occurred at Fort Dix," Saxton said yesterday.
It's unclear whether that comparison would hold up in inflation-adjusted dollars, considering Fort Dix is the site of the former Walson hospital, which at nine stories tall was the biggest building in Burlington County when constructed in the 1960s.
Still, it is an illustration of the change of fortunes for the fort, which lost its basic training mission after its first time on the base-closing list.
Fort Dix is the busiest Army Reserve deployment center in the United States and, as Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is scheduled to get busier, said base spokeswoman Carolee Nisbet.
The new facility will serve as a center for up to 1,000 soldiers and civilians and should open late next year. It will be made up of three buildings, including a main building of almost 175,000 square feet.
Dix and McGuire, which both have been threatened with closings, turned out to be winners under the last report from the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission.
Some 2,000 jobs are to be created either directly or indirectly from projects at Dix and McGuire, according to the commission report.
Under the Pentagon plan, the center will house soldiers transferred from the following bases:
-- Camp Kilmer in Edison, home to the Reserve's 78th Division Headquarters.
-- The Pittsburgh Army Reserve Center in Coraopolis, Pa.
-- Components of the 77th Regional Readiness Command at Fort Totten, N.Y.
-- The 244th Aviation Bridge from Fort Sheridan, Ill.
The joint base will wind up with a new Northeast Regional Readiness Command Headquarters.
"The economic benefit of 1,000 people working there, and the direct influx to the economy from construction workers and subcontractors (is a) dual economic benefit," Saxton spokesman Jeff Sagnip Hollendonner said.
Burlington County Freeholder Aubrey A. Fenton said officials are anticipating benefits to several towns near the base and will try to ensure any growth is managed properly.
"We expect the development of the megabase to spur a lot of opportunities for economic growth in Burlington County, especially the areas of Wrightstown, North Hanover, New Hanover, Chesterfield, Springfield and the Pembertons," Fenton said in a statement.
"We are working diligently with those towns and the military leaders to ensure that we make the most of those opportunities by applying smart-growth initiatives to any projects for the utmost benefit of our residents," he said.
Meanwhile, more construction is scheduled for the joint base, including a $20 million Army National Guard facility at Lakehurst, Saxton said.
Fort Dix has mobilized more than 48,000 reservists since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and demobilized almost almost 38,000, so far.
Contact Larry Hanover at lhanover@njtimes.com or at (609) 989-5726.
© 2006
© 2006 NJ.com All Rights Reserved
Ft. Dix facilities, roles will grow
$40.7M reserve center is among projects planned
Saturday, March 11, 2006
By LARRY HANOVER
Staff Writer
FORT DIX -- This sprawling Burlington County base may have barely survived being on the base-closing hit list in 1988 and 1991, but it is now in line for one of its largest construction projects in recent memory.
A $40.7 million Army Reserve Center is scheduled to be built starting this fall at Fort Dix as its merger with McGuire Air Force Base and Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station begins taking shape, U.S. Rep. James Saxton, R-Mount Holly, announced earlier this week.
"This is a huge deal and the biggest construction project, in terms of dollars -- and I'd suspect square feet -- that's ever occurred at Fort Dix," Saxton said yesterday.
It's unclear whether that comparison would hold up in inflation-adjusted dollars, considering Fort Dix is the site of the former Walson hospital, which at nine stories tall was the biggest building in Burlington County when constructed in the 1960s.
Still, it is an illustration of the change of fortunes for the fort, which lost its basic training mission after its first time on the base-closing list.
Fort Dix is the busiest Army Reserve deployment center in the United States and, as Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is scheduled to get busier, said base spokeswoman Carolee Nisbet.
The new facility will serve as a center for up to 1,000 soldiers and civilians and should open late next year. It will be made up of three buildings, including a main building of almost 175,000 square feet.
Dix and McGuire, which both have been threatened with closings, turned out to be winners under the last report from the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission.
Some 2,000 jobs are to be created either directly or indirectly from projects at Dix and McGuire, according to the commission report.
Under the Pentagon plan, the center will house soldiers transferred from the following bases:
-- Camp Kilmer in Edison, home to the Reserve's 78th Division Headquarters.
-- The Pittsburgh Army Reserve Center in Coraopolis, Pa.
-- Components of the 77th Regional Readiness Command at Fort Totten, N.Y.
-- The 244th Aviation Bridge from Fort Sheridan, Ill.
The joint base will wind up with a new Northeast Regional Readiness Command Headquarters.
"The economic benefit of 1,000 people working there, and the direct influx to the economy from construction workers and subcontractors (is a) dual economic benefit," Saxton spokesman Jeff Sagnip Hollendonner said.
Burlington County Freeholder Aubrey A. Fenton said officials are anticipating benefits to several towns near the base and will try to ensure any growth is managed properly.
"We expect the development of the megabase to spur a lot of opportunities for economic growth in Burlington County, especially the areas of Wrightstown, North Hanover, New Hanover, Chesterfield, Springfield and the Pembertons," Fenton said in a statement.
"We are working diligently with those towns and the military leaders to ensure that we make the most of those opportunities by applying smart-growth initiatives to any projects for the utmost benefit of our residents," he said.
Meanwhile, more construction is scheduled for the joint base, including a $20 million Army National Guard facility at Lakehurst, Saxton said.
Fort Dix has mobilized more than 48,000 reservists since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and demobilized almost almost 38,000, so far.
Contact Larry Hanover at lhanover@njtimes.com or at (609) 989-5726.
© 2006
© 2006 NJ.com All Rights Reserved
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 12:08 PM
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