All over Southeast Georgia, you can find housing developments and subdivisions that never quite materialized as planned. Call them the empty shelves of the recession. Today, officials from the U.S. Army came to Hinesville to tell local officials and business leaders that their shelves will be stocked.
"I'm telling you, it's happening," says Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, commander of the Ft. Stewart-based 3rd Infantry Division. "It's coming."
It was two years ago when the Army announced plans to add another Brigade Combat Team to Ft. Stewart. That means 3,400 new soldiers and about 7,000 new civilians. Yesterday and today, top Army officials, 3-star generals, came to Ft. Stewart to get progress and share details about the expansion.
Maj. Gen. Cucolo also wanted to use the presense of high-ranking Army officials to reassure locals. "One of the outcomes of today for me was to just double check that the 5th Brigade Combat Team is on track to happen as we have been saying it's going to happen," says Cucolo. "And it is."
The reassurance could be important to banks, who are anxious about lending, and builders, who are anxious about building, in the current economic downturn. Army officials say, only 20% of the new combat team's soldiers will be housed on post.
So, the new soldiers will need off-post housing. And then there are the new schools to build, the new roads to fund and the new doctors to attract.
The base already is adding new on-post facilities, including day care centers, recreation centers and shops. "I mean, by the first of October, we will have executed or be in the middle of executing almost a half a billion dollars worth of construction," says Maj. Gen. Cucolo. "I know people are looking at the economy across the nation. In Southeast Georgia, this is a growth industry."
About 70% of the new brigade should be in place by October.
"I think what you've seen today is a commitment from the Army leadership with the decisions that have been made and the money that's into this institution as we speak," says Dave Tindall, the Army's top Southeast region infrastructure official. "And what you're going to see in the years forthcoming, you're going to see a lot of that place to maintain it as an enduring installation."
The arrival Fifth Brigade Combat Team, to be complete by 2011, won't be the first time coastal Georgia has boomed with the military. Area businesses and surrounding communities experience a boost every time 3rd Infantry Division soldiers return from overseas.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Top Army Brass Tell Hinesville To Get Ready
