For sale: 1 N.J. military base (complete article from source)
Source: courierpostonline.com, by JEFFREY GOLD
January 10, 2007
FORT MONMOUTH (AP) - For sale: 1,100 acres with office buildings, town homes, 20-lane bowling alley and 18-hole golf course. Fitness center with indoor pool, strip mall and 600-seat chapel also available to the right bidders.
Not interested? Perhaps, high-tech laboratories, a day care center and a 74-slip marina by the Shrewsbury River could tempt a buyer as the Army looks to sell its property at Fort Monmouth.
Forced to leave by 2011 as part of the Pentagon's base-closing plan, the military is casting its net to draw developers to the property. Much of it must be sold at full-market value, but it can be divided into different parcels. Local governments and nonprofit groups can apply for land and structures at reduced prices.
The fort has several hundred apartments, which might appeal to neighboring towns looking for affordable housing, said Col. Ricki L. Sullivan, the garrison commander.
"You have to think, what are the needs of the community," Sullivan said Wednesday, as he escorted a group of reporters on a tour of the base.
The tour was the first of about eight scheduled by the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority, created by the state in April to oversee redevelopment of the base. Other tours will be for developers, social service groups and colleges.
The fort lies along one of the Jersey Shore's commercial corridors, Route 35, where some real estate is estimated to be worth $1 million an acre. Three towns have territory within base boundaries -- Eatontown, Oceanport and Tinton Falls -- and several of their neighborhoods abut Army fences.
Besides the land, the state is also worried about restoring the jobs and revenue created by the fort, whose 5,500-person payroll approaches $500 million. Its overall economic impact is estimated at $2.5 billion annually by the state Commerce, Economic Growth & Tourism Commission. That includes money spent locally by workers and support jobs that involve about 22,000 people.
Although the Army's departure is years away, deadlines for the redevelopment effort are already approaching. Entities looking for free or reduced price facilities for public benefit must obtain sponsorship by a federal agency and submit a notice of interest by March 8, said Frank Cosentino, the revitalization authority's executive director.
So far, only one building and 8 acres around it have been claimed by a U.S. agency, which had first chance at facilities, Sullivan said. Russell Hall will be used as offices by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he said.
However, the golf course, as well as a new firing range and an extensive firefighter training center, are being eyed by Monmouth County. Eatontown is considering a fort building to replace its cramped municipal building.
Sullivan said the several hundred base structures have about 5 million square feet of space. That includes the imposing Meyer Center, with 665,000 square feet of office space by the Garden State Parkway.
"This is really a hub for the Army's electronic communications ... going from concept to delivery to soldiers," fort spokesman Timothy Rider said.
Several buildings are kept at a constant 72 degrees by a geothermal heating-cooling system using water pumps.
The McAfee Center has a soundproof chamber that can fit a Blackhawk helicopter to test new gear devised by the Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate.
Also on base are banquet facilities, gas stations, ballfields, a movie theater and the U.S. Military Academy Prep School, which will be relocating to the academy at West Point, N.Y.
The base also boasts the Patterson Army Health Clinic, a Veterans Administration clinic that had been a 100-bed hospital when Fort Monmouth had 10,000 active duty military personnel, Sullivan said.
The fort now has about 5,000 civilian employees and 500 military personnel. Most are being offered a chance to transfer to the bases where the fort's work will be shifted, the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
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