Picerne, which will form a partnership with garrison staff, expects to begin its work at APG within a year. First, the company must draft a community development and management plan that ultimately would have to win congressional approval, Mulvey said. The plan would include a housing market analysis and suggestions from APG families.
The post is one of the last in the country to be privatized as the result of the Army's Residential Communities Initiative that began more than a decade ago. Picerne, which has been in the home- management business for more than 80 years, has participated in seven housing partnerships with the Army nationwide and now oversees about 20,000 homes in six states.
Since 2002, Picerne has built six communities at Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County, with 600 new homes and three neighborhood centers.
"We are old hands at this, and APG likes that," Mulvey said.
The Army does not guarantee personnel post housing, and experience shows that about 25 percent of the post families choose to live on base. Others settle into housing nearby.
APG likely will require only one large neighborhood, he said. Families would pay Picerne their standard housing allowance - a monthly stipend the military provides - to lease the homes.
"There is no intent to provide houses for each military family," Mulvey said. "The idea is to prevent the local community from being overwhelmed and to keep off-post housing demand stable. But we do want to build on the base homes that are as good as what is available off post."
As APG grows in the next few years by as many as 10,000 jobs, because of the nationwide military base expansion known as BRAC, many of the current agencies at the base will relocate.
By 2010, there will be fewer soldiers on the base but many more contractors on its periphery, Mercer said.
"We are turning all housing over to a developer, who will assure that there is an appropriate number of houses for the appropriate number of people," he said.
mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com
