FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- Military construction activity in San Antonio again reaches historic levels with more than $700 million in con-tracts in fiscal year 2009.

The Base Realignment and Closure construction program in San Antonio has boosted over-all military construction expenditures in the city to historically high levels for the second year in a row.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District and the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment awarded 35 BRAC and other military construction contracts worth a total of $738 million during fiscal year 2009, which ended on Sept. 30.

Spending on military construction in San Antonio typically averages between $65 and $100 million per year. The $738 million total in fiscal year 2009 is in addition to $1.2 billion in contract awards in fiscal year 2008.

The contracts awarded during the past year involve new construction and renovation. One of the larger renovation projects is the effort to remodel historic structures on Fort Sam Houston as office space to accommodate the realignment of the Army's Installation Management Command from the Washington, D.C. area. More than 2,000 positions are associated with this move.

Fiscal year 2009 projects have given the BRAC program additional momentum as it moves toward its legislative completion deadline of September 2011. This fall, the program is passing through its period of peak construction activity. More than 2,200 construction workers are spread across the various project sites.

In fiscal year 2010, 24 projects valued at more than $300 million are scheduled to be awarded. The construction contractors that receive contracts are continuing to hire many subcontractors from the San Antonio area to help complete their projects.