Fort Monroe, Hampton, VA

[Mustang Gregg]

Great place & full of history. 
We go there every coupla years when we TDY at Ft Eustis or Norfork.

MG

[Arcey]

Fort Monroe plan will cost $500 million, analysts say

By Kate Wiltrout
The Virginian-Pilot
© September 20, 2008

HAMPTON
Implementing the Fort Monroe reuse plan approved last month by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine will require nearly half a billion dollars in investment – most of it from the private sector.

That's the conclusion of Bay Area Economics, a company hired by the Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority to help it prepare for the Army's departure in three years.

David Shiver of BAE told the authority Friday that it would take an investment of about $350 million to rehabilitate historic buildings and construct infill housing in the North Gate area and the historic village – both outside the walled stone fort where development would be strictly regulated.

"People ought to know that Fort Monroe requires a lot of private investment," Shiver said.

He estimated infrastructure improvements on the 570-acre waterfront base would cost another $33 million, and developing cultural facilities and a museum called for in the reuse plan would take about $66 million.

Shiver said the private sector would provide the bulk of the capital but emphasized that the state must make an initial outlay to attract private investment.

A minimum of $12 million in public investment will be required to remake the base into a viable community where people live, work and play, Shiver said. The public funding would provide seed money for the authority and create a contingency fund, he said.
The nearly $500 million figure didn't faze Bill Armbruster, the authority's executive director.

"That is actually a good number for us to work with," Armbruster said afterward. "We believe we can generate that with the inventory we have. We have great potential."

In the short term, local, state and Army authorities are focused on nuts-and-bolts issues, such as figuring out who will provide utilities and public services when the Army leaves.

The bigger task facing the authority: finding companies or organizations interested in leasing office space, rehabbing buildings for tax credits, and constructing new housing that doesn't jeopardize the fort's status as a national historic landmark.

Some of the terms in Shiver's presentation might have raised eyebrows among those worried about the fort's future – such as his reference to selecting a "master developer" for the property.

But Armbruster said the word "developer" need not conjure up images of high-rises or Atlantic City, N.J. "This place has been under development for 400 years," he said.

Shiver described his work with two other military properties affected by earlier rounds of federal base closings – the Presidio in San Francisco, now under the management of a federally appointed trust, as well as NASA's Ames Research Center and an adjoining naval air field in Silicon Valley. The research park there is a public-private partnership focusing on leasing property to technology startup companies and major tenants such as Carnegie Mellon University and Google Inc.

Shiver urged the authority to identify a master developer by 2010, a year before the Army's departure, he said.
He said he wasn't bothered by the meltdown in the financial sector. The authority will have to choose investors wisely, he said, but "you can't do these plans based on the market at the moment."

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-6683, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/09/fort-monroe-plan-will-cost-500-million-analysts-say

[Arcey]

Gentlemen, with deep regret I'm passing this along.

Fort Monroe advocate dies while waiting to cast ballot

By Kate Wiltrout
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 31, 2008
NORFOLK

The leader of a citizens group seeking to turn Fort Monroe into a national park died Monday of an apparent heart attack.
Henry O. Malone, 74, helped found Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park in 2006, and was its president.

Known to many as "H.O.," Malone was a dogged, deep-voiced advocate for the historic post. He spent 14 years there as chief historian of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command.

In 2005, the government said it would close the base. Concerned about development on the 570-acre waterfront property, Malone buttonholed politicians. He wrote letters, organized meetings and united a diverse group of people.

"H.O. was the spark plug that brought us together, and he had total dedication to the best interests of the future of Fort Monroe," said Louis Guy, president of the Norfolk Historical Society and secretary of the citizens group.

Mark Perreault, a board member, said Malone was undeterred by setbacks: "He just dusted himself off, got up and kept going straight ahead. He was an inspiration to us all."

A longtime Hampton resident, Malone was an Air Force pilot before earning a doctorate in history.
Friends said Malone collapsed while in line to cast an absentee ballot at the Norfolk registrar's office. They said he had  planned to spend Election Day outside polling places, getting signatures on a Fort Monroe petition.

" He died, in a way, working to preserve Fort Monroe," said Charles H. Cureton, who worked for Malone at Training and Doctrine Command.

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/fort-monroe-advocate-dies-while-waiting-cast-ballot

[Steel Horse Bailey]

That's a shame.  I hope someone steps up and keeps this going.

[Arcey]

Fort Monroe group puts in for $96.5m from the feds

The Virginian-Pilot
© January 2, 2009

NORFOLK

Officials overseeing Fort Monroe's transition to civilian control want federal economic stimulus funds to help pave the way for the Army's departure.

Bill Armbruster, executive director of the Fort Monroe Federal Area Development Authority, said he has requested $96.5 million from the federal government for infrastructure improvements, including $20 million for flood protection projects.
"Everybody is lining up. Everybody has got a shopping list," Armbruster said of the stimulus package. "We want to be in the queue."

Regular budget appropriations can't be used for improvements on military bases that the government has decided to close. But an economic stimulus package - such as the one that Congress and the incoming Obama administration are expected to propose - wouldn't have that restriction, Armbruster said.

Fort Monroe's closure was announced in 2005; the Army will leave in 2011. Most of the land - 570 acres with unobstructed views of the Chesapeake - will revert to the state, and the development authority is hoping to find tenants for the existing 140 buildings and 300 housing units.

Flood protection is the biggest priority, Armbruster said. Parts of Fort Monroe were substantially damaged by floodwaters from Hurricane Isabel in 2003. The Army Corps of Engineers built a new seawall at the base. Plans for 10 offshore breakwaters were shelved after the closure was announced, Armbruster said. The project would cost about $16 million.

An additional $15 million of the requested funds would go toward improving wastewater collection; replenishing less than a mile of beach along the Chesapeake Bay would cost $10 million. Water system improvements, including installing meters and replacing hydrants, would cost $10 million; street and sidewalk improvements would take $4 million.

Some of the projects are essential for attracting new tenants, Armbruster said. The development authority expects that even if the work isn't done with stimulus funds, it will need to be done within the first five years after the Army leaves - even if there's little or no new development.

Armbruster said that he and Hampton Mayor Molly Ward met with local congressional representatives before Christmas about the request, and were encouraged by their responses.

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com

[Arcey]

Fort Monroe group requests national park status

By Kate Wiltrout
The Virginian-Pilot
© November 20, 2009

HAMPTON

The group that will manage Fort Monroe after the Army leaves voted Thursday to try to have certain sections of the post designated a unit of the National Park Service.

The board of the Fort Monroe development authority, a state-appointed entity, asked the state to work with Congress to pass legislation giving national park status to the historic fort, moat and outer works; Old Quarters No. 1; the radar station on the parapets; and Batteries Parrot and Irwin, according to a news release. The authority would manage and redevelop other areas according to a reuse plan.

It's not clear whether Congress and the park service will approve the plan.

Authority Chairman L. Preston Bryant Jr. said the move endorses "an expanded role for the National Park Service at Fort Monroe that also preserves the state's ownership of the property and adheres to Governor Kaine's goals that we respect Fort Monroe's history, keep it open to the public, maintain open space, and make it as economically sustainable as possible."

The Army is scheduled to leave the fort in 2011 as part of the most recent round of military base closings.

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/11/fort-monroe-group-requests-national-park-status