Senator Hutchison -- Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 28, 2001
CONTACT: Lisette Mondello

SENATOR HUTCHISON ATTENDS FORT SAM HOUSTON RENOVATION EVENT

FORT SAM HOUSTON, TX -- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on Tuesday praised a first-in-the nation privatization initiative to lease and renovate three historic buildings at Fort Sam Houston, calling it a win-win situation for everyone involved.

"These leases will save the Army money, reduce the costs of operating Fort Sam Houston and bring in additional funds to help repair and maintain other buildings on the post," she said at the redevelopment signing ceremony. "It's new, it's different and it's an innovative way of thinking that is increasingly identified with the way we do business in San Antonio."

Under the agreement, Orion Partners Inc. and Roy F. Weston Inc. will lease from the Army the old Brooke Army Medical Center hospital building and two of the three Beach Pavilion buildings. The buildings will be restored and redeveloped for occupancy by either private or public tenants.

When the hospital opened in 1938 with 425 beds it was considered a state-of-the-art facility. It closed in 1996 when the new BAMC was fully operational. The Beach Pavilion complex was built in 1931 as soldiers' barracks which were converted to hospital buildings in 1946.

In 1998 the National Park Service listed BAMC as a "threatened National Historic Landmark." The Army studied the problem and recommended a public-private lease arrangement.

"This takes buildings that were not in use and deteriorating and turns them into a revenue-producing asset," the senator said.

Senator Hutchison, who is the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee's military construction subcommittee, said it is critical that historic buildings be preserved and restored when possible.

"These buildings are physical manifestations of the relationship between Central Texas and its military neighbors," she said. "This friendship has been the key to this area's continued success – and a prime factor in the level of pride and community spirit that you all share."