Mar 23 2007
The Fleetwood Homes division of Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc, an industry leader in factory-built housing for more than five decades, today announced that its Trendsetter Homes unit has been chosen as a supplier to provide modular military housing to the U.S. Army at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Terms of the multi-million dollar contract were not disclosed.
Trendsetter Homes, Fleetwood's modular division, has begun offsite construction of permanent barracks at its modular housing facility in Texas. During the first phase of the contract, Trendsetter Homes will build seven modular apartment buildings totaling 470 units, which will house 940 Army personnel. The Company anticipates that this initial phase will enable full-time operation of its Belton, Texas, plant for at least seven consecutive months. The Army contemplates additional phases for this project, as well as a number of similar projects at other bases, all of which Trendsetter will also pursue.
"Our modular building process will allow us to accelerate the Army's ability to provide high quality, up-to-date housing with minimal disruption to base operations," said John H. Riddle, Vice President of Trendsetter Homes. "Because these apartments will be built offsite, we will significantly decrease the congestion, noise, and debris issues associated with conventional site-built construction. Modular housing construction ensures a remarkably cleaner and safer job site."
Undertaken by the U.S. Army in support of the Military Housing Transformation Initiative, the project is part of an effort to significantly upgrade on-base housing at Ft. Bliss, which encompasses 1.1 million acres of land. It is also the site of the Army's Air Defense Artillery Center, responsible for the education and training of Air Defense Artillery soldiers and units. Fleetwood has teamed with several companies that have complementary expertise in various areas of development and construction. Hensel Phelps is the prime contractor and owner of the government contract; the architectural and engineering leadership is being provided by The Benham Companies; and The Warrior Group, which is tasked with delivering completed living units, contracted with Fleetwood and All American Building Systems to construct the modular units.