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New family housing project on schedule

  • Published
  • By Rob Sexton
  • 20th Fighter Wing public affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Shaw's privatized family housing project, which brings 630 new units of contemporary-style residences, is on schedule, a spokesman for the housing management program said Monday.

The first new homes are slated to be turned over to Forest City Residential Management the last week of June, according to Henry Topping, project manager.

That means the first Team Shaw family to get a new house will move in soon.

While the contract doesn't specify how many units of new housing will be available by certain dates, the builder, Hensel-Phelps Construction Company, will deliver the units in increments, Topping said. Housing operations will be notified by construction management about 30 to 45 days out as to how many units are ready for delivery per increment.

Leslie Birth, Shaw's community manager for Forest City, said there were many reasons Shaw needed new housing. For instance, the old homes no longer met standards; many were beyond economical maintenance; they lacked storage and garages; all were much smaller than today's homes.

The taxpayers aren't footing the bill for the new homes, Birth explained, a consortium of private investors is.

Before all the new housing can be built, all the old housing must go to make room. Still waiting to be demolished are 585 units built in the 1960s and '70s. Shaw used to have more than 1,100 units, some built as long ago as the 1950s.

Topping said all construction must be finished by the end of the third quarter of 2015.

Presently, Topping said, no current residents will be forced to move off base, but will move into new, on-base homes. There are about 480 families still living in old housing.
The path of demolition is what determines who must move and when.

As the permanent-change-of-station season moves into full swing, people headed toward Shaw are being told there are some existing homes available, but the new homes will be given first to families in the path of demolition. If someone moves into an old home today, they will learn how long they will reside in it until they will be required to move for demolition.

Topping encouraged everyone still inbound or new to Shaw to call Forest City at 803-499-3074 to discuss their options. "The inventory of available homes changes daily," he said. The website for Shaw's housing is here: http://www.housing.af.mil/shaw/