In anticipation of several thousand new employees, Aberdeen Proving Ground is launching a major construction program to accommodate a highly technical work force.
The Army post, which will grow by more than 8,000 jobs in the next three years as part of the nationwide military base expansion, known as BRAC, is expanding existing structures and building new facilities.
"We are starting to execute BRAC," Col. Jeffrey Weissman, garrison commander, said at a Town Hall meeting at Aberdeen High School that drew nearly 400 people last week. "BRAC is happening today."
The advent of BRAC will be most apparent tomorrow, when Army officials break ground on a $477 million complex that will house many of the communications jobs moving to APG from Fort Monmouth, N.J., a base slated for closure.
The 1.5-million-square-foot facility, built by Whiting-Turner Contractors, should be ready for occupancy in the fall of 2010, a year ahead of the deadline for the completion of BRAC.
The buildings for C4ISR, so called for its mission in command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, is not the only major construction project at the 73,000-acre base. This summer will see construction beginning on a large test and evaluation center as well as a comprehensive medical research unit.
OPUS East, a Minnesota-based developer with a subsidiary in Rockville, began construction three months ago on the Government and Technology Enterprise, a 200-acre business and technology park that will include a 60,000-square-foot laboratory and an 80,000-square- foot office building.
"Our bottom line is preparing for BRAC," Weissman said. "APG is postured to support warfighters with the support they deserve."
The GATE project is part of an "enhanced-use program," a nationwide push by the Department of Defense to find new ways of financing maintenance and improvements on military installations during a time when the defense budget is being stretched to support combat operations overseas. Leasing the land helps pay for many of the other base upgrades.
"One of the reasons we won BRAC is because APG has these lands available for lease," said James C. Richardson, Harford's economic development director.
Started years before the Pentagon announced its sweeping plan for realigning bases, the program has helped provide the facilities and services needed at installations slated to expand, such as APG and Fort Meade.
