Sensors complex to renovate, add laboratory space

  • Published
  • By Daryl Mayer
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District office has awarded a $36 million contract to Butt Construction of Dayton to renovate and expand the Air Force Research Laboratory Sensors Directorate complex located on Area B of Wright-Patterson AFB.

The project will add approximately 91,000 square-feet and alter approximately 56,000 square-feet of the existing Sensors complex. This construction will allow units of the Sensors Directorate currently located at Hanscom AFB, Mass., and Rome, N.Y., to relocate to Wright-Patterson. Locating all units of the Sensors Directorate here was one of the efficiencies identified during the BRAC 2005 process and written into public law.

All BRAC moves must be complete by September 2011.

"This military construction contract really sets the stage to take the Sensors Directorate to the next level," said Dr. Dave Jerome, director of the Sensors Directorate. "With the increased space and capabilities afforded by this world-class facility, we will become the Air Force Center of Excellence for Sensors Research."

This award marks the last of the construction contracts associated with BRAC at Wright-Patterson. All told, the five major contracts represent more than $330 million to add and renovate approximately one million square feet of office and laboratory space.

"BRAC has proven to be a boon to the Dayton region, especially for the construction industry when you consider the majority of new construction spending was awarded to local companies," said Jacque Fisher, 88th Air Base Wing BRAC director. "And this doesn't end with construction. Very soon we will start trucking in equipment, buying additional supplies, establishing maintenance contracts, hiring additional employees - there is still much to be done before our deadline, and all of it is good news for Dayton."

This latest contract also includes approximately $8 million of equipment options which the government may elect to award at a future date.