Privatized military housing residents at Fort Riley, near Manhattan, Kansas, will benefit from housing upgrades and modernization along with five other military installations across the country, The Mecury reported last week.
Corvias, a national development company, announced Wednesday it will invest $325 million to upgrade and modernize housing at Fort Riley, pledging the investment will be put into its DOD portfolio to fund modernization and resiliency improvements to its Army base housing infrastructure, according to the report.
The investment is expected to upgrade about 16,000 privatized military homes. Corvias manages 26,000 privatized military homes across 13 installations, and most are 40 to 60 years old, with some dating back to 1870.
The other Army installations to benefit from privatized military housing upgrades are Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Meade, Md.; Fort Rucker, Ala.; Fort Sill, Okla.,; Fort Polk, La.; and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., according to a Colorado Public Radio report.
Officials will start by assessing homes and prioritizing the ones that need the most work, saving an estimated $300 million over 30 years, according to Corvias. The savings will be due efficiencies gained from upgrading “critical” existing homes, technology upgrades toward proactive maintenance and monitoring, and reduced energy use, according to the report.
Corvias founder John Picerne said in the announcement that the investment will allow the company to better inform predictive maintenance needs and monitoring, and make improvements to the resiliency and sustainability of its homes and the utility infrastructure that services them.
“We have been working on this investment plan for more than 18 months, long recognizing that significant revitalization is necessary to provide high-quality military housing, and increased interest and visibility proved that we are on the right track,” Picerne said. “The failed status quo — repairing and maintaining aging and outdated facilities — must be replaced by innovation and modernization.”
Photo by Amanda Ravenstein