The General Services Administration is bolstering efforts to auction unneeded federal properties as part of a push to identify and dispose of surplus facilities. GSA is working with other agencies to accelerate the process of preparing unneeded properties for sale and moving them to market, reported Federal Times. Last year the agency sold 79 properties for $37 million, and this year it plans to surpass that pace …
San Antonio didn’t earn the moniker “Military City USA” for nothing. The economic impact of the military accounted for $27.7 billion and 189,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, in the region in 2011, city officials reported Thursday. The study, sponsored by the city’s Economic Development Department and Office of Military Affairs, found that DOD accounts for over 132,000 direct jobs in San Antonio, with Joint Base San Antonio the largest single employer in the community employing more than 92,000 personnel …
Housing inspectors from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs visited Fort Monmouth on Friday to assess whether the former Army post could provide long-term temporary housing for residents of coastal New Jersey displaced by Hurricane Sandy and last week’s nor’easter. The inspectors gave good grades to 300 units in seven buildings that could accommodate 600 to 900 people, reported NJ.com. Other buildings could accommodate additional families …
Now that most of DOD’s relocation from leased space in Arlington, Va., under BRAC has occurred, it should take several more years for occupancy rates to rebound, according to a real estate investment trust with significant holdings in Northern Virginia. Those relocations have caused the occupancy rate at Vornado Realty Trust’s Northern Virginia office properties to decline from 90 percent to 84 percent in the past year, reported the Washington Business Journal. “There is a lot of churn, but not yet enough absorption to eat into vacancies, especially in the peak BRAC year,” said Vornado/Charles E. Smith President Mitchel Schear. Recovery from the moves should begin in 2014, he said.
A military academy for high school students last week closed on a financing package for a $14 million campus at the Federal City project, providing a key tenant for the redevelopment of the former Naval Support Activity New Orleans. The campus for the New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy, a state charter high school which requires students to participate in Marine Corps Junior ROTC, will include two renovated Navy buildings along with additional facilities …
The Navy’s BRAC Program Management Office last week was recognized for leading the restoration of a complex, 230-acre landfill at the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, Calif., an effort which saved $42 million and avoided a substantial amount of greenhouse gas emissions. For its innovative solution to capping the landfill, which resulted in the creation of 8.7 acres of new wetlands, improvement of 120 acres of existing wetlands and creation of new public access trails, the BRAC office earned a 2012 Secretary of Defense Environmental Award …
The Oakland City Council last week approved final language for an agreement with the city’s master developer for the former Oakland Army Base ensuring at least half of the estimated 2,800 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs the project is expected to generate go to local residents. The project labor agreement with Prologis and California Capital & Investment Group also requires that at least 25 percent of employees used for the project be apprentice-level workers, and that all apprentices be Oakland residents …
ADC has rescheduled the Defense Policy Forum: Using BRAC Lessons Learned to Address the Resource Challenges of Today to Dec. 6 after being forced to postpone it due to Hurricane Sandy. This special event — which will be held at the Army Navy Club in Washington, D.C., from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. — will present the findings from the ADC 2012 Annual Conference BRAC analysis workshop, including a detailed examination of the workshop after-action report (a copy of the report will be provided at the event) …
Utility workers from around the nation coming to assist recovery efforts in New Jersey will be staying at the former Fort Monmouth, which is located close by many of the beachfront communities hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to build temporary housing at the closed Army post to accommodate the influx of workers, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday …
A strategic plan released this week by the Florida Defense Support Task Force recommends a multitude of goals the state should strive to achieve, including addressing encroachment, supporting DOD’s efforts to conserve energy and shift energy use toward renewable sources, improving transportation access, and strengthening its support for military families and veterans. The 991-page report, produced by the Spectrum Group, was launched last year to help the state cope with potential consolidation and realignment actions stemming from the Pentagon’s need to help reduce the federal deficit …