thedrifter
03-27-07, 07:37 PM
Retirement home to develop D.C. facility
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 27, 2007 17:43:26 EDT
The Armed Forces Retirement Home has taken another step forward in its plans to develop 77 acres on its site in Washington to help generate some income for the home.
The income will be used to refurbish and build facilities needed for the health and comfort of its current elderly population, as well as take into consideration the future needs of current Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, officials said.
Officials at the home announced that Crescent Resources LLC, of Charlotte, N.C., has been selected to develop the home’s proposal, which will include more than 300 units of affordable housing, market-rate rental and condominium units, medical office space, a small hotel, a grocery store and other retail facilities.
A five-member multi-agency panel of experts convened by the General Services Administration recommended the selection of Crescent Resources.
The plans are preliminary; details of the project will be worked out with Crescent Resources and are subject to approvals by various government agencies. The final draft of the home’s master plan for the next 25 years will be developed in consultation with its own residents, neighboring residents and institutions, and local elected officials, as well as various planning and historic offices.
The Armed Forces Retirement Home intends to enter into a long-term master lease with Crescent and retain ownership of the land, which is adjacent to Catholic University of America and the Washington Hospital Center.
The plan also includes transitional housing for military veterans. Currently one of the buildings on the property houses a program that helps formerly homeless veterans make the final transition to living and working in the civilian community. The home intends for a program like this to continue, said Chris Black, a consultant to the home.
Armed Forces Retirement Home chief operating officer Timothy Cox has worked to manage the spending, taking steps such as outsourcing maintenance, security and other functions, Black said.
“We are not spending our trust fund money on operations any longer, but we have no money for capital needs,” she said. “As Iraq and Afghanistan veterans age, they will have special needs. We’re thinking about that now.”
The home is the nation’s oldest continuously operating retirement community for enlisted military personnel. The income generated from this project will help build and renovate the facilities needed to care for the current elderly residents, as well as veterans in the future.
Those needs are expected to exceed $366 million over the next ten years. It will include roof replacements, fire alarm updates, security systems, wiring replacement and other necessary projects to ensure the safety and comfort of existing residents and plan new facilities. A new nursing home will be built to replace the current King Center.
The home receives no taxpayer funding, and relies on a trust fund that is not sufficient to meet the short- and long-term needs of the institution, officials at the home have said. Active-duty service members pay 50 cents per pay period from their paychecks, which helps support the home’s operations. And most of the home’s 1,100 residents do pay some money each month for their residence, Black said. The current population includes several hundred who were evacuated from the Gulfport, Miss., Armed Forces Retirement Home campus after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005
Ellie
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 27, 2007 17:43:26 EDT
The Armed Forces Retirement Home has taken another step forward in its plans to develop 77 acres on its site in Washington to help generate some income for the home.
The income will be used to refurbish and build facilities needed for the health and comfort of its current elderly population, as well as take into consideration the future needs of current Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, officials said.
Officials at the home announced that Crescent Resources LLC, of Charlotte, N.C., has been selected to develop the home’s proposal, which will include more than 300 units of affordable housing, market-rate rental and condominium units, medical office space, a small hotel, a grocery store and other retail facilities.
A five-member multi-agency panel of experts convened by the General Services Administration recommended the selection of Crescent Resources.
The plans are preliminary; details of the project will be worked out with Crescent Resources and are subject to approvals by various government agencies. The final draft of the home’s master plan for the next 25 years will be developed in consultation with its own residents, neighboring residents and institutions, and local elected officials, as well as various planning and historic offices.
The Armed Forces Retirement Home intends to enter into a long-term master lease with Crescent and retain ownership of the land, which is adjacent to Catholic University of America and the Washington Hospital Center.
The plan also includes transitional housing for military veterans. Currently one of the buildings on the property houses a program that helps formerly homeless veterans make the final transition to living and working in the civilian community. The home intends for a program like this to continue, said Chris Black, a consultant to the home.
Armed Forces Retirement Home chief operating officer Timothy Cox has worked to manage the spending, taking steps such as outsourcing maintenance, security and other functions, Black said.
“We are not spending our trust fund money on operations any longer, but we have no money for capital needs,” she said. “As Iraq and Afghanistan veterans age, they will have special needs. We’re thinking about that now.”
The home is the nation’s oldest continuously operating retirement community for enlisted military personnel. The income generated from this project will help build and renovate the facilities needed to care for the current elderly residents, as well as veterans in the future.
Those needs are expected to exceed $366 million over the next ten years. It will include roof replacements, fire alarm updates, security systems, wiring replacement and other necessary projects to ensure the safety and comfort of existing residents and plan new facilities. A new nursing home will be built to replace the current King Center.
The home receives no taxpayer funding, and relies on a trust fund that is not sufficient to meet the short- and long-term needs of the institution, officials at the home have said. Active-duty service members pay 50 cents per pay period from their paychecks, which helps support the home’s operations. And most of the home’s 1,100 residents do pay some money each month for their residence, Black said. The current population includes several hundred who were evacuated from the Gulfport, Miss., Armed Forces Retirement Home campus after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005
Ellie