Moody opens doors to new housing

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Team Moody celebrated the completion of the first new single family housing units with a ribbon cutting ceremony Jan. 31, at the new Magnolia Grove Housing area.

The $52 million project provides 383 three and four-bedroom homes in Magnolia Grove, each with no less than 1,630 square feet of space.

Dignitaries attending the ribbon cutting ceremony included Maj. Gen. Del Eulberg, Air Force Civil Engineer, Col. Joe Callahan, 23rd Wing commander, and leadership from American Eagle Communities LLC.

"This is a big day for the Airmen and families of Team Moody," said Colonel Callahan. "The Magnolia Grove homes are the nicest base housing units I have ever seen in the 31 years I have been living in base housing. Moody Family Housing has created a community that any Airman would be proud to live in."
Moody Family Housing is a 50-year, joint public-private partnership between American Eagle Communities and the U.S. Air Force.

"The partnership is intended to improve standards of living for current and future base housing residents," said Louis Screws, 23rd Civil Engineer Squadron housing flight chief.

The homes are fully owned and maintained by American Eagle under rules agreed to in the project's transaction documents.

"The Air Force benefits because they receive quality new housing without the up-front money a military construction contract requires," said Mr. Screws. "American Eagle can use private sector financing and private resources to build these homes faster, better and more economically using local codes and standards."

The units are built with an all-metal framing system that arrives partially assembled in a kit for a single home. It takes only four days for a team of eight workers to frame an entire house, said Rich Safranic, Moody Family Housing quality assurance director.

By using all-metal construction, the materials are less expensive to transport, stronger than wood, will not burn and can be recycled easily, said Mr. Safranic.

American Eagle plans to use this construction technique for every home in Magnolia Grove, and with an average of five homes a week arriving at the site, every time-saving measure is essential, added the quality assurance inspector.

Moody Family Housing expects to hand over an average of one house a day to Air Force inspectors for certification, said Naomi Hendricks, Moody Family Housing project director. The construction on Magnolia Grove housing is scheduled to be completed this December.

The first residents of Magnolia Grove will be the 94 families currently residing in the "Courts" townhouses of the Quiet Pines housing area.These units are scheduled to be demolished as the residents are relocated. MFH will then use the land for new senior leadership housing, said Mr. Screws.

American Eagle purchased 700 acres of peanut farmland along the southern edge of Moody. There will be 383 single-family units built on 150 acres of this property. The American Eagle Communities has permanently donated approximately 200 acres to the Banks Lake Wildlife Refuge Area. The remaining 350 acres are being set aside for future base-housing growth.

"We are the first major installation to accomplish the goal of creating a new community using a privatized partnership like this," said Lowell Klepper, 23rd CES deputy base civil engineer. "Moody has been working towards this point for more than 20 years."