FORT LEE, Va. (Jan. 30, 2014) -- Work has begun on phase two of a three-phase renovation and construction project for the 23rd Quartermaster Brigade.

The $80-million project includes the construction of new brigade and battalion headquarters buildings along with barracks and associated facilities that will occupy a block of land bordered by 16th Street, Adams and Byrd avenues and 11th Street.

Glenn Conner, logistics support officer, Quartermaster School, said the new construction is a long-awaited effort for an area of the installation that has began to show its age.

"The barracks that we have now were built in the '60s," he said. "The new buildings will bring us up to par with the other installation facilities."

Both the Ordnance Campus that was completed in 2011 as a result of Base Realignment and Closure mandates and the new 26th Quartermaster Battalion compound are among the projects that included new barracks and administrative buildings, Conner noted.

Fritz Brandt, a community planner with the Directorate of Public Works, said phase two of the 23rd QM Bde. project includes three separate contracts. Only one has been awarded.

"It calls for the construction of the remaining half of building 3800 (the first half of a 600-person building was included in phase one of the project), one 600-person barracks building, running tracks, physical training pits and lawn care facilities," he said, noting that site preparations are under way.

The second contract under phase two will be awarded in the spring, said Brandt. "It will cover two battalion headquarters buildings and a brigade headquarters building."

Brandt said a third contract for a Marine Corps battalion headquarters building (near building 9060) will be awarded within the coming weeks.

If the construction goes as planned, the 300-person half barracks is expected to be complete in September; the 600-person barracks, PT tracks and other facilities have a completion time of September 2015, said Brandt.

The other phase-two contracts are expected to take "12-18-months to close," said Brandt.

Phase three of the project provides for a 2,500-person capacity dining facility and a 300- and 600-person barracks. Work for those projects is scheduled for fiscal 2017, said Brandt.

The estimated cost for all three phases of construction is $211 million, said Brandt. The project will be a boon for military personnel in training.

"It will do a great service for the quartermaster Soldiers," he said. "The Ordnance Soldiers got (new) BRAC facilities when they arrived here, but the quartermaster Soldiers were still in their existing facilities. The new construction will bring the quartermaster facilities in line with Army standards and put them on par with the Ordnance Soldiers."

The new barracks facilities will feature larger spaces and have shared bathrooms and other modern features, said Conner. They also will feature geo-thermal heating systems.