Contract awarded to renovate two historical structures

  • 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 an $18,539,000 million contract to a joint venture of two Dayton-based companies, Butt Construction and Aztec Electric Inc., to renovate two historical structures, buildings 12 and 17, located in Area B of Wright-Patterson AFB.

The facilities will become home to the 77th Aeronautical Systems Group currently located at Brooks City-Base in Texas and moving to Wright-Patterson under the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 2005.

The project is to be finished in approximately 18 to 20 months. When complete, the two facilities will offer an additional 100,000 square feet of administrative and functional workspace.

The 77th AESG is the unit charged with providing advanced performance, survival, and force protection capabilities to US and allied air, ground, and naval forces through development, production, and sustainment of human-centered systems which include life support; nuclear, biological and chemical defense; aeromedical services; AF uniforms; mishap analysis; force health and fitness; and medical information systems. The 77th AESG reports to the 77th Aeronautical Systems Wing under the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patt.

"We like to say that the 77th AESG supports every airman, every day," said Col. Daryl Hauck, 77th AESW commander. "Locating this unit in proximity to other Aeronautical Systems Center and Air Force Research Laboratory units will provide great synergy in delivering even better products to the warfighter."

The facilities themselves are both some of the oldest and most interesting from an architectural viewpoint on the base.

Completed in 1929, building 17 is a red brick two-story structure with a low-pitched gabled roof, wide copper entablature and rectangular columns with concrete capitals and typifies early Wright Field architecture. It originally housed the Aircraft Radio Laboratory and has been vacant for the last 7 years.

The other facility, building 12, is truly the architectural gem of the pair. It was designed by Dayton architects Albert and Freeman Pretzinger in the Art Deco style and funded by the Public Works Administration, a New Deal program that was part of the National Industrial Recovery Act. It was completed in 1935 and was for a while home to the Army Aeronautical Museum. Among its many features, the front façade is punctuated by two massive aluminum doors each displaying an imposing, stylized eagle with a large chevron emblazoned upon its chest. Until recently, the facility was being used for office space.

"Being able to reuse these architectural treasures is a story that strikes right to the real purpose of BRAC, which is reorganizing and consolidating to more effectively use our resources," said Jacque Fisher, 88th Air Base Wing BRAC director. "As we are improving the ability of the 77th AESW to function as a cohesive unit, we are also making better use of existing structures. In addition, with this project we are bringing more business to the area, so the local community benefits too."

The contract calls for the facilities to receive upgraded electrical systems, new force protection features, asbestos removal, lead paint abatement and improved energy efficiency along with general cosmetic improvements, according to Louis Zavakos, 88th Civil Engineer Squadron.