$69 million needed for new headquarters

Money sought is for 3rd Army facilities at Shaw Air Force Base

By CHUCK CRUMBO

ccrumbo@thestate.com

The Army needs about $69 million to build a new command headquarters and other support facilities at Shaw Air Force Base.

The facilities will be used by the 3rd Army, which is moving to Sumter from Atlanta as part of the reorganization of Defense Department facilities.

“We’re delighted to welcome the 3rd Army to Shaw,” U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., said Tuesday. “This move reflects the Pentagon’s ‘joint basing’ concept and puts Shaw in strong standing for the future.”

Spratt’s district includes the air base, home to the 20th Fighter Wing and 9th Air Force headquarters.

In a letter to the House Armed Services Committee, Army officials requested $2.9 million to design the facilities and another $65.3 million for construction.

New construction needed, according to the Army, includes a building for the headquarters’ offices and support battalion, a warehouse and motor pool.

Initial plans call for the headquarters and support battalion building to cover 287,000 square feet; the warehouse, 23,500 square feet; and the motor pool, 15,000 square feet.

The Army, which probably will build its complex on the east side of the air base, is forgoing plans to build a small-arms range, said Col. Barrett King, spokesman for the 3rd Army. “We’ll use the Air Force site.”

Extensive construction is necessary because there are “no adequate facilities at Shaw Air Force Base to support this relocation,” the Army said in its letter to U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House panel.

Moving the 3rd Army to Shaw was recommended by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, also known as BRAC.

The 3rd Army, located at Fort McPherson, is home of the Army Forces Central Command. The command is responsible for land troops in such hot spots as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army Central Command works alongside Central Command Air Forces, which is under the 9th Air Force at Shaw. Supporters of the move said it would be more efficient to have the Army and Air Force units on the same base.

“The Army has now made clear the investment it plans to make at Shaw,” Spratt said.

Money for the facilities will come out of a transition fund, already approved by Congress, to pay for base-closing-related moves, Spratt said.

The base-closing law requires the Army, which has about 1,600 soldiers assigned to the unit being moved to Shaw, to complete the move by Sept. 30, 2011.

Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.