This is a half-day event beginning at 9:00 a.m. and ending with “Hail to USASAC” lunch and will include a series of sessions updating communities about BRAC and other related topics. The agenda includes updates from the Garrison, AMC, Redstone Test Center and the Missile Defense Agency.

Tuesday, Dec. 15
9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Location: VBC North Hall

9:00 Check-in
9:30 – 11:30 BRAC Command Updates

Noon – 1:00 Hail to USASAC Lunch

Leaders in the 2009 index, which ranks U.S. metros based on their ability to create and sustain jobs, are all metros that succeeded in avoiding the worst of economic declines driven by falling housing markets and job losses in manufacturing and global trade.

• View full rankings
• View Huntsville’s specific ratings

The 2009 top 10 performers (with 2008 rankings) of the 200 largest metros:

1. Austin-Round Rock, TX (4)
2. Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX (13)
3. Salt Lake City, UT (3)
4. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX (7)
5. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX (16)
6. Durham, NC (21)
7. Olympia, WA (9)
8. Huntsville, AL (5)
9. Lafayette, LA (14)
10. Raleigh-Cary, NC (2)

Regional economic factors also strongly influenced the rankings this year, with the oil and gas sector, technology and alternative energy providing stability among metros in Texas, North Carolina, Washington and Louisiana, which also benefited from low dependence on housing/construction. Austin in particular has been helped by its strong tech industry. It is the first metro to ever be ranked number one twice on the index, the last time being in 2000.

Another factor helping Texas metros move up in the rankings is that state’s favorable business climate and its ability to attract jobs and corporations away from higher-cost states.

The Best Performing Cities Index includes both long-term (five years) and short-term (one year) measurements of employment and salary growth. There are also four measurements of technology output growth, which are included because of technology’s crucial role in creating good jobs and driving regional economies.

Data for all 324 metros is available on our 2009 Best-Performing Cities interactive web site.

UAH education summit takes on BRAC challenges

Maj. Gen. James Myles asked this of a group of educators Monday:

“The question is what happens when we bring in another 9,000 children into the schools”?

By 2011, that many more children could have enrolled in area schools as their parents come to work at jobs transferred here because of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

Myles, the commander of Redstone Arsenal, was speaking to the people who can help answer that question, including the superintendents of the three public school systems in Madison County, the mayors of both Huntsville and Madison and others attending a Community Education Summit at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

His talk concluded a morning of discussions on how to get more teachers in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math and how to boost the graduation rate.

Both of those issues are important “to preparing students to enter the work force at Redstone Arsenal,” said Ray Garner, spokesman for UAH.

“We have all these jobs, and we need to produce the talent” to fill them. That task begins in kindergarten and goes all the way through the Ph.D. level.

Up to 6,000 civilian contractor positions will support the Army Materiel Command, which is moving from the Washington, D.C., area to Huntsville. The BRAC jobs total about 4,700.

The average salary of those jobs is $80,000, and those workers come with high expectations for their children’s schools and other things that affect quality of life, Myles said.

Right now, the school systems here are competitive with the ones in Fairfax County, Va., where many of the BRAC families currently live.

The challenge is to keep that level of education as the schools get the influx of students.

“At the end of the day, I’m wearing a uniform, and to support the soldier is my primary mission,” Myles said. “We can’t support the soldier without the education you deliver here. The work force on the arsenal are the sons and daughters of your education system.”

Garner said he hopes to make the education summit an annual event at UAH.

“There are a lot of pressing issues (in education), and this is the start of an event where we can bring awareness to some of those issues.”

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) – The future of education is more important than ever as Huntsville prepares for some 9,000 students. That’s how many could come here because of the base realignment and closure transitions.

Local educators are looking forward, discussing best practices to address the graduation rate, dropout numbers and requirement of core subjects like English and math.

“Everything we do in our life focuses around the things we have success with,’ said Tommy Ledbetter with Buckhorn High School.

Video: Local school leaders meet with BRAC officials about future

Local educators know the value of learning and what it will mean to the job market. That’s why they are sharing ideas and research with others during the community education summit at UA Huntsville.

“You have to give them some staff involvement opportunities,” said Dr. Anthony Dallmann-Jones.

Future teachers, administrators were tuned in, taking notes, ready for change — mainly BRAC’s impact on the local school systems. Some 9,000 new students could be here with their families by the end of next year.

“It’s about a way of trying to make our school systems better,” said Gen. James Myles, the commanding general of the Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal.

Myles said BRAC will have a huge impact on the face of the community, and it’s up to schools to turn young minds into great thinkers. And also to prepare them now with the right tools for high-tech careers close to home.

“Providing the education they need to realize their goal, which is to work on this Arsenal and support soliders,” he said.

Local school leaders also addressed the crowd, giving updates on Huntsville, Madison County and Madison City Schools.

By Gina Hannah

November 19, 2009, 2:28PM

Dave Dieter/Huntsville TimesNational home prices, including distressed sales, declined by -9.8 percent in September compared with the same month last year, First American CoreLogic reported.

This was an improvement over August’s year-over-year price decline of -11.1 percent; on a month-over-month basis, a decline that suggests the return of seasonal housing price patterns, the report said.

In the Huntsville market, which includes parts of Limestone and Morgan counties, home prices, including distressed sales, declined by -3.31 percent in September 2009 compared to September 2008.

The new First American CoreLogic Home Price Index Forecast anticipates continued declines in most markets, albeit at a slowing rate, for the next six months, followed by a rebound in the spring. Above-average levels of foreclosures, inventories and unemployment will continue to take their toll in many major metropolitan markets in the short term.

As the economy continues to improve and these factors improve, the forecast calls for housing prices to bottom for most markets by March 2010 and then turn positive.

Video of construction progress at the AMC/USASAC construction site from Aug. 08 – Nov. 09

You can view all the video from our construction on the HQAMC BRAC Web site, and photos on the AMC Flickr page.

By Pat Ammons Newcomb

November 17, 2009, 6:00AM

HUNTSVILLE, AL – Dave Dieter / The Huntsville TimesMaj. Gen. James Myles, Redstone Arsenal’s commander, gave the keynote address at Monday’s Community Education Summit.

Maj. Gen. James Myles asked this of a group of educators Monday:

“The question is what happens when we bring in another 9,000 children into the schools”?

By 2011, that many more children could have enrolled in area schools as their parents come to work at jobs transferred here because of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

Myles, the commander of Redstone Arsenal, was speaking to the people who can help answer that question, including the superintendents of the three public school systems in Madison County, the mayors of both Huntsville and Madison and others attending a Community Education Summit at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

His talk concluded a morning of discussions on how to get more teachers in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math and how to boost the graduation rate. 

Both of those issues are important “to preparing students to enter the work force at Redstone Arsenal,” said Ray Garner, spokesman for UAH.

“We have all these jobs, and we need to produce the talent” to fill them. That task begins in kindergarten and goes all the way through the Ph.D. level.

Up to 6,000 civilian contractor positions will support the Army Materiel Command, which is moving from the Washington, D.C., area to Huntsville. The BRAC jobs total about 4,700.

The average salary of those jobs is $80,000, and those workers come with high expectations for their children’s schools and other things that affect quality of life, Myles said. 

Right now, the school systems here are competitive with the ones in Fairfax County, Va., where many of the BRAC families currently live.

The challenge is to keep that level of education as the schools get the influx of students.

“At the end of the day, I’m wearing a uniform, and to support the soldier is my primary mission,” Myles said. “We can’t support the soldier without the education you deliver here. The work force on the arsenal are the sons and daughters of your education system.”
Garner said he hopes to make the education summit an annual event at UAH.

“There are a lot of pressing issues (in education), and this is the start of an event where we can bring awareness to some of those issues.”

By Kari Hawkins, USAG Redstone

Brick by brick, steel beam by steel beam, Redstone Arsenal is experiencing a fundamental change in its business landscape that is destined to affect its tenants and the entire Tennessee Valley community for years to come.

A drive along the Arsenal’s main thoroughfares offers plenty of evidence to the expanding footprint of Arsenal facilities. New buildings are going up, renovations are taking place and expansions are under way. Growth is in the air.

No one knows that better than Joe Davis, director of the Garrison’s Directorate of Public Works, and his busy staff, who are charged with managing, overseeing and maintaining the Arsenal’s facilities.

“We’ve got more going on here than I can ever remember,” Davis said. “Besides everything we’ve got going on, other agencies – such as NASA and the FBI – also have construction projects on the Arsenal. Fiscal year 2009 has been a record setting year for construction.”

Redstone Arsenal’s building boom began in fiscal 2007. Before that boom, a typical year for the public works directorate meant managing $18 million to $20 million in small renovation projects throughout the Arsenal. In fiscal 2008, that number increased to $48 million in new construction put under contract. In fiscal 2009, the amount of new contracts hit a high of $87 million for several large-scale, multiyear construction projects.

“There’s no telling what fiscal year 2010 will bring,” Davis said. “The number could increase beyond $87 million. The trend is upward. But there is no guarantee until we see how budgets pan out.”

While the DPW directly manages $87 million in construction projects, the entire Army and non-Army construction picture at Redstone exceeds $565 million, which includes major facilities being built in support of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations that were put into law in 2005. Based on the projects currently under construction, square footage on the Arsenal will increase by 15 percent by 2011, going from 11.7 million before the building boom to 13.1 million at the end of 2011.

The Garrison is involved with three different types of construction projects. First, there are facilities being built in conjunction with the Corps of Engineers under the military construction program, such as the Von Braun Complex addition for the Missile Defense Agency, and new headquarters facilities for the Army Materiel Command and U.S. Army Security Assistance Command.

Second are the job order contract projects — the small renovations and facility upgrades — that are limited to $750,000 for a new construction project and $2 million for laboratory revitalization projects. And third are the $21 million in stimulus projects to upgrade and maintain existing facility systems, such as replacing air conditioning units, and replacing water, sewer and gas lines.

“With those three programs alone right there you’ve got $569 million in construction. Of that, we have ongoing $424 million of BRAC-related construction,” Davis said.

“The issue we are having now is that we’ve got more and more construction requests with funds in hand than we’ve ever had before because the Arsenal’s mission keeps expanding and there are more agencies with wants and needs.”

The Garrison’s biggest customers include the Redstone Test Center and its $53.5 million construction project that includes the 126,000-square-foot Rotary Wing Center Hangar Facility at the Redstone Airfield and its new 37,000-square-foot headquarters building on Martin Road; the Missile Defense Agency and its $221.2 million, 840,000-square-foot building at the Von Braun Complex that will be complete in the fall of 2010; the $140 million, 401,000-square-foot Army Materiel Command and U.S. Army Security Assistance Command headquarters; and the $7.2 million, 25,000-square-foot 2nd Recruiting Brigade and its subordinate command, the $1.7 million, 5,000-square-foot 2nd Medical Recruiting Battalion.

This construction is all BRAC-related. According to BRAC law, the facilities must be in place and operational by Sept. 15, 2011. The first BRAC-related facilities to open on the Arsenal were the recruiting brigade and recruiting battalion buildings located on the northeast section of the Arsenal near Patton Road. The other projects are in various stages of construction.

“The bottom line is we’re on track, we’re on schedule to have all these facilities complete and ready for move in prior to the 2011 date,” Davis said. “The AMC building will be complete by March 2011 and the Rotary Wing and RTC’s new headquarters will be complete by July 2011.”

But not all Arsenal construction is directly related to BRAC.

Non-BRAC-related military construction projects (valued at more than $750,000 and requiring congressional approval) include the new 5,000-square-foot Garrison Support Services Center and its sister building for visual information, both on Vincent Drive, now under construction. Also included are a $5 million ongoing renovation of building 5250 (Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space) which is set for completion in September 2010, and a $20 million, 80,000-square foot facility known as the Systems Software Engineering Annex Phase II that will be completed in February 2011. Then, Phase III will add a 37,000-square-foot facility at a cost of $17 million.

“There are other agencies that have their own contracting capabilities,” Davis said. “One of those is AAFES, which is building a new Burger King. Then there is the FBI and ATF facilities. The Corps of Engineers has the largest non-BRAC project — $66 million in construction for the FBI and ATF.”

The ATF National Center for Explosives Training and Research, now under construction on Patton Road, will be a $28 million, 83,000-square-foot facility. Plans are also in the works for a $45 million FBI Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center, DIA-MSIC Explosive Ordnance Exploitation Facility, AMRDEC Software Engineering Directorate facility, the Gate 7/Martin Road expansion, and the $500 million, privately invested Enhanced Use Lease project. About $4 million in renovations at Fox Army Health Center are nearing completion and the new 12,400-square-foot U.S. Post Office facility has opened.

Family and Morale Welfare and Recreation has about $8 million worth of construction projects in various stages. Of that, $3 million will go toward building the new Child Development Center on Mills Road and making upgrades to the Youth Center off Goss Road.

The new CDC will provide space for 124 children from ages infant to 4 years old, and 60 children in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs.

“We are trying to provide daycare for the children on our waiting list and the majority of those children are under 4 years old,” said Child Youth Services chief Andre Terry. “Our goal is to pull these children from off-post daycare and bring them on post to offer their parents the convenience of having their children only a few blocks away from where they work.”

Currently, CDC provides services for 176 children ages infant to 4 in its facility on Goss Road. That area is also home to the recently opened $6 million, 23,000-square-foot School Age Services Building and the Youth Center.

The FMWR projects overseen by the organization’s business development and information technology director Francine Stone include everything from a solarium at the bowling alley to campground upgrades to a new conference center near the Officers and Civilians Club.

“These projects are being taken on so that we grow with the influx of people into our Redstone community,” she said. “These projects are good for everybody. These are expansions and renovations that everybody can use, and they are coming at the request of our customers. It’s not only about expanding our facilities, but also about a better offering of services. These projects will allow us to offer a whole lot more.”

FMWR projects include a Redstone Bowling Center Solarium, renovations and a new mission for the Diane Campbell Community Center (formerly recreation center); the new 5,000-square-foot Conference Overlook near the Officers and Civilians Club; the new 5,000-square-foot Outdoor Recreation Complex; a renovated Wellness Center on Digney Road that will be expanded from 3,000 to 8,000 square feet; drainage upgrades and bathroom facilities at the Parade Field; and renovations and improvements to the Post Library, Arts and Crafts Center, Pagano Gym, RV park and Col. Carroll D. Hudson Recreation Area. Most of these projects will be completed in 2010, with the new conference center slated for completion in early 2011.

The Arsenal is also benefitting from a $26.8 million stimulus package that is funding energy-related and quality-of-life projects. Those projects include replacing steam, water and gas lines, and rebuilding an airfield runway and turnaround.
Of the new construction managed by the Garrison, $8.7 million is funding 530 small renovation and improvement projects.

“It’s hard to see the magnitude of these projects,” Davis said. “But we are managing every one of them, and they will add to the overall services and infrastructure of the Arsenal. We are trying to make sure our infrastructure is in good shape to support the next round of growth.”

Before construction can begin on Redstone, agency representatives must meet with the Garrison’s Master Planning Office to choose a site.

“The day BRAC was signed four years ago, we started looking at the master plan to see where we were going to fit new buildings into our plan,” Davis said. “When you add a building, it has to fit. For example, we offered AMC four different sites that would fit into our master plan.

“In general, the master plan calls for quality of life, training and user-friendly buildings to be located on the northern end of the Arsenal. In the middle of the Arsenal, we have administrative and laboratory buildings, and at the southern end we have explosive operations, storage and testing facilities.”

Of course, some of those areas do intermingle, such as the new FMWR child care facility that is being built near administrative facilities along Martin Road, and future plans for restaurants and service-type businesses, also along Martin Road.

“With quality of life, you have to also look at putting service facilities near your largest concentration of administrative space,” Davis said.

Working with Davis to manage Redstone’s construction projects is a staff of 96 DPW employees and contractors led by Jerry Hinson, chief of the Design and Construction Branch; Keith Cook, chief of the Engineering Division; John Green, chief of Master Planning, and Greg Calvert, chief of Base Operations.

Once the current building boom is complete, Davis’ office won’t be given a respite. The Directorate of Public Works is also charged with maintaining current facilities and renovating existing buildings.

“Besides our new construction, we are responsible for maintaining and supporting the existing 70 customers on post with all their facility wants and needs,” Davis said. “After 2011, we will renovate buildings all around the Arsenal that have been parceled out to tenants here and there.

“Our goal is to keep our buildings maintained up to the current standard so that we can experience energy efficiencies and so that our agencies can recruit the best and brightest. The quality of work space is high on the list of things new recruits want. We also want to be ready for the next round of growth.”

Besides growth on the Army side of Redstone, NASA at Redstone is also experiencing tremendous growth in its facilities. Marshall Space Flight Center has six ongoing projects totaling $46 million. In fiscal 2010, another $13 million in construction on three projects will begin and, in fiscal 2011, three projects totaling $54 million will begin, according to Kent Criswell of NASA/MSFC Facilities Planning Group.

By John S. Peck

November 12, 2009, 9:47PM

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. _ Not too many months from now the city of Madison will no longer be able to claim it is the largest city in Alabama without a hospital.

The timing for construction of the city’s first hospital and a proposal for a half-cent sales tax to build a new high school for the town is none too soon.

Experts say the Huntsville area is seeing the largest single economic expansion in Alabama history because of Base Realignment and Closure Commission decisions made several years ago.

In addition to developments in Madison, another encouraging sign is that the state under Gov. Bob Riley in the last two years has increased the amount of gas tax revenue returned to Madison County from 53 cents for each dollar sent to Montgomery to 94 cents.

But many more significant challenges remain.

BRAC’s huge wave of high-paying jobs has already begun to arrive and will continue to increase over the next couple of years. By the time the transfers are completed, North Alabama will have gained 4,600 federal civilian jobs, 5,500 contractor jobs and as many as 9,500 jobs created by indirect growth.

Some roads are already seeing Washington-like congestion, even though most of the jobs won’t arrive until next year and the next.

In a recent meeting, Maj. Gen. James Myles, Redstone’s commander, told The Times’ editorial board he ranks the extension of Martin Road from the western side of the arsenal west to Interstate 565 as his top highway project.

This $21 million project would help “drain the swamp,” as the general put it, of heavy east-bound traffic on I-565. Today, that traffic threatens to overwhelm the Gate 9 entrance at I-565 and Research Park Boulevard. That gate accommodates traffic from both I-565 and roads north of the interstate, particularly Alabama 53. Myles said this road needs a “quadruple bypass” to adequately handle its commuters.

The Martin Road and Alabama 53 projects are among seven officials have singled out as important in moving traffic on and off the arsenal. And there is a lot of it. Daily, 33,000 employees – the equivalent of a small town, Myles noted – enter and leave Redstone.

Outlining the schedule and plans for Madison Hospital, Huntsville Hospital CEO David Spillers told the City Council Monday night that the 60-bed Madison project is expected to be completed in February 2012 and will eventually offer 200 beds and employ 500 people.

The council Monday night also held a hearing on the sales tax plan, and many of the students who would eventually attend the new school or Bob Jones High will be from BRAC families. Both the hospital and the new school will be critical to handling the growth here in the next couple of years.

But the state has not committed all the money it will take to improve those seven roads. Although recent figures show an increasing commitment from Riley to spend Madison County gas tax revenue on Madison County projects, he will leave office in just 14 months.

Customarily, promises for local road improvements are forgotten as soon as the next administration takes office. That’s the way Montgomery works.

Myles was careful to note BRAC jobs will bring the state and local governments an estimated $50 million in additional income and sales tax revenue annually, bringing that total from all Redstone and contractor jobs to $234 million. The average salary for the new employees is $80,000 a year, and the total salary for Redstone-related jobs will reach $3.15 billion.

Local lawmakers and officials need to keep the pressure on candidates for governor and the Legislature for road money, and not just for the benefit of this area.

Redstone Arsenal and BRAC are the brightest economic spot in Alabama today in the midst of the country’s most serious recession since the Depression.

Much of the state tax revenue from Redstone Arsenal jobs is earmarked for education for all of Alabama’s schools and accounts for a sizable portion of the state school budget, all the more so in bad times.

The state’s leaders need to keep facts like these in mind when the time comes to finding money for those seven road projects.

By Mike Hollis, for the editorial board. E-mail: mike.hollis@times.com

Check out the latest aerial shots of the AMC/USASAC construction site, courtesy of Sellers Photo.
You can view all the pictures of our BRAC construction on our Flickr site.