Rocky C
04-25-10, 06:02 PM
By James K. Sanborn - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Apr 24, 2010 10:11:24 EDT
<FORM id=hidden></FORM>
NEW ORLEANS — Marines assigned at Marine Forces Reserve headquarters here often battle mold, ruptured pipes and falling debris.
The century-old complex at Naval Support Activity New Orleans is literally falling apart.
“Pieces of concrete fall on desks, sewer pipes break — I battle mold every day,” said Col. William Davis, assistant chief of staff for facilities at Marine Forces Reserve (MarForRes). “I keep plastic in the closet to cover expensive equipment when it rains.”
A new building befitting the Corps’ largest command is under construction just across the Mississippi River. The 411,000-square-foot, four-story, $170-million facility is set for completion by mid-2011. Amenities include the headquarters’ own pool and athletic field. But the Corps isn’t without concerns about operating out of the new complex. The building is situated in the heart of Algiers, a neighborhood known for crime and violence.
The new headquarters also will house Marine Forces North and the Marine Corps Mobilization Command, which is now in Kansas City, Mo. In all, Marine officials say the building will employ about 1,600 Marines and 300 civilians.
MarForRes’ current and future buildings are both part of what is now NSA New Orleans, which the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission ordered closed by Sept. 15, 2011. The portion of the base on the east bank, where MarForRes currently resides, will be turned over to the city.
The portion on the west bank will become the new home of MarForRes and the site of Federal City, a mixed-use campus that will include businesses and schools.
The greatest advantage for MarForRes is that the new building will consolidate command facilities and make them more secure, Davis said. In contrast to the old complex, the new building is designed to withstand not just New Orleans’ hurricanes, but also terrorist attacks.
Exterior panels, along with the buildings’ steelwork, were designed to prevent “progressive collapse.” This means if a storm or bomb damages a section of the building, only the immediate area is affected. The panels in the new building are more than 10 inches thick, some are 72 feet tall, and they contain more than one million pounds of reinforced steel.
“There is nothing that is going to blow this down,” said Bob Lipscomb, senior project manager for Woodward Design+Build.
It can likely withstand a Category 5 hurricane like Katrina. Its windows are rated to stand 130 mph winds.
And even if the building does flood, all vital equipment is stored off the ground with the most important equipment on upper floors, Davis said. The field in front of the new building will double as a landing zone that can accommodate two large helicopters or Ospreys.
The new amenities will cost the Marine Corps an estimated $16 million dollars, a fraction of the total $170 million cost. The state of Louisiana is paying $120 million for the building’s main construction and the Navy, which now owns the base, is contributing $34 million as mandated by BRAC.
One concern that remains, however, is criminal activity outside the new facility.
During the second weekend of April a man was shot several times about a mile from the Reserve’s future building — the latest in a string of violent crimes in the area.
“As a Marine, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to take an early morning run in this neighborhood,” said Capt. Kate Vanden Bossche, a MarForRes spokeswoman.
Marines who now jog through the scenic French Quarter could find themselves mostly confined to running quarter-mile laps on an oval track, inside their security perimeter.
But, Vanden Bossche said she is hopeful that the new facility would improve the area.
“An imposing Marine guard at the gate might make people think twice about shooting others in the neighborhood,” she said.
Federal City
MarForRes headquarters is just one piece of a larger development known as Federal City — a project that construction managers hope will revitalize the Algiers neighborhood by drawing commerce.
“Developers are already buying up homes bordering the … construction site,” said Mary Alice Smith of the New Orleans Federal Alliance, the nonprofit that campaigned to bring Reserve headquarters across the river as the centerpiece of the mixed-use campus that also will include shops, schools and federal offices. “This neighborhood already has enough blight. They don’t need another 200 acres empty when the Navy shuts down here.”
While the Reserve building will exist inside a high-security ring, the rest of Federal City will be open to the public and guarded by less obtrusive barriers that will still satisfy federal security requirements for nonmilitary agencies.
The new campus also will include 1,400 residential units, a grocery store, a child-care center, restaurants, sports and recreational facilities, and five educational institutions from elementary to college level, according to the Federal City Web site.
Project managers predict that the development will eventually attract 10,000 additional jobs, some of them federal.
The campus could be an appealing location for federal agencies in New Orleans because all federal agencies are required to operate in buildings resistant to bomb attacks and other security threats. Many agencies in the city now operate under waivers because there had been a shortage of secure facilities and very little new construction in post-Katrina New Orleans. When those waivers expire, they will be forced to relocate or update their buildings.
“If you have a government facility that needs this kind of security, this will be the only game in town,” Smith said.
Posted : Saturday Apr 24, 2010 10:11:24 EDT
<FORM id=hidden></FORM>
NEW ORLEANS — Marines assigned at Marine Forces Reserve headquarters here often battle mold, ruptured pipes and falling debris.
The century-old complex at Naval Support Activity New Orleans is literally falling apart.
“Pieces of concrete fall on desks, sewer pipes break — I battle mold every day,” said Col. William Davis, assistant chief of staff for facilities at Marine Forces Reserve (MarForRes). “I keep plastic in the closet to cover expensive equipment when it rains.”
A new building befitting the Corps’ largest command is under construction just across the Mississippi River. The 411,000-square-foot, four-story, $170-million facility is set for completion by mid-2011. Amenities include the headquarters’ own pool and athletic field. But the Corps isn’t without concerns about operating out of the new complex. The building is situated in the heart of Algiers, a neighborhood known for crime and violence.
The new headquarters also will house Marine Forces North and the Marine Corps Mobilization Command, which is now in Kansas City, Mo. In all, Marine officials say the building will employ about 1,600 Marines and 300 civilians.
MarForRes’ current and future buildings are both part of what is now NSA New Orleans, which the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission ordered closed by Sept. 15, 2011. The portion of the base on the east bank, where MarForRes currently resides, will be turned over to the city.
The portion on the west bank will become the new home of MarForRes and the site of Federal City, a mixed-use campus that will include businesses and schools.
The greatest advantage for MarForRes is that the new building will consolidate command facilities and make them more secure, Davis said. In contrast to the old complex, the new building is designed to withstand not just New Orleans’ hurricanes, but also terrorist attacks.
Exterior panels, along with the buildings’ steelwork, were designed to prevent “progressive collapse.” This means if a storm or bomb damages a section of the building, only the immediate area is affected. The panels in the new building are more than 10 inches thick, some are 72 feet tall, and they contain more than one million pounds of reinforced steel.
“There is nothing that is going to blow this down,” said Bob Lipscomb, senior project manager for Woodward Design+Build.
It can likely withstand a Category 5 hurricane like Katrina. Its windows are rated to stand 130 mph winds.
And even if the building does flood, all vital equipment is stored off the ground with the most important equipment on upper floors, Davis said. The field in front of the new building will double as a landing zone that can accommodate two large helicopters or Ospreys.
The new amenities will cost the Marine Corps an estimated $16 million dollars, a fraction of the total $170 million cost. The state of Louisiana is paying $120 million for the building’s main construction and the Navy, which now owns the base, is contributing $34 million as mandated by BRAC.
One concern that remains, however, is criminal activity outside the new facility.
During the second weekend of April a man was shot several times about a mile from the Reserve’s future building — the latest in a string of violent crimes in the area.
“As a Marine, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to take an early morning run in this neighborhood,” said Capt. Kate Vanden Bossche, a MarForRes spokeswoman.
Marines who now jog through the scenic French Quarter could find themselves mostly confined to running quarter-mile laps on an oval track, inside their security perimeter.
But, Vanden Bossche said she is hopeful that the new facility would improve the area.
“An imposing Marine guard at the gate might make people think twice about shooting others in the neighborhood,” she said.
Federal City
MarForRes headquarters is just one piece of a larger development known as Federal City — a project that construction managers hope will revitalize the Algiers neighborhood by drawing commerce.
“Developers are already buying up homes bordering the … construction site,” said Mary Alice Smith of the New Orleans Federal Alliance, the nonprofit that campaigned to bring Reserve headquarters across the river as the centerpiece of the mixed-use campus that also will include shops, schools and federal offices. “This neighborhood already has enough blight. They don’t need another 200 acres empty when the Navy shuts down here.”
While the Reserve building will exist inside a high-security ring, the rest of Federal City will be open to the public and guarded by less obtrusive barriers that will still satisfy federal security requirements for nonmilitary agencies.
The new campus also will include 1,400 residential units, a grocery store, a child-care center, restaurants, sports and recreational facilities, and five educational institutions from elementary to college level, according to the Federal City Web site.
Project managers predict that the development will eventually attract 10,000 additional jobs, some of them federal.
The campus could be an appealing location for federal agencies in New Orleans because all federal agencies are required to operate in buildings resistant to bomb attacks and other security threats. Many agencies in the city now operate under waivers because there had been a shortage of secure facilities and very little new construction in post-Katrina New Orleans. When those waivers expire, they will be forced to relocate or update their buildings.
“If you have a government facility that needs this kind of security, this will be the only game in town,” Smith said.