FORT POLK, La. Aca,!" While driving on Fort Polk, you see some type of construction taking place on almost every corner.
Whether it's a new building going up or drainage improvements being made on the main post, or construction on homes and new neighborhood centers in the Family housing areas, there is a flurry of activity. The saying many have heard, "It's not your dad's Fort Polk," rings true.
2009 is an exciting year for Picerne Military Housing. Two more neighborhood centers open this year and work on a fourth begins. The Maple Terrace Neighborhood Center opens its doors in late May.
This facility is larger than the Palmetto Terrace Neighborhood Center and offers the same amenities to Families living on post with one addition Aca,!" a children's wading pool. The next neighborhood center opens later this year in Dogwood Terrace. Site work on the fourth center begins December in Camellia Terrace.
Palmetto Terrace will continue to grow with 88 additional E1-E5 town homes. The first of 46 new homes for the E6-E8 rank band will open in this neighborhood in December. Construction on new homes in Dogwood Terrace begins this summer.
Picerne is tearing down 282 two-bedroom apartment homes in April in Dogwood Terrace to make way for new homes. Eighty three-bedroom, company grade officer duplex homes and 25 four-bedroom, field grade single Family homes will be built in their place. The first of these will be ready in December and delivery will continue into 2011.
Work also begins this year on two smaller neighborhoods. Site work will begin in August for a small neighborhood of 27 Acadian-style homes for sergeants major. This neighborhood will be located on Corps Road behind headquarters. The first home will be ready in November 2010. The neighborhood will be finished in the fall of 2011.
The second new neighborhood overlooks the golf course on Radio Road. Eleven homes for Fort Polk's colonels and the commanding general will take the place of the old World War II buildings that currently populate that street. Picerne will begin site work in that location in December. The Southern Colonial-style homes will start coming on line in January 2011 and continue each month through December.
The greater part of Fort Polk's family housing revitalization program consists of renovating existing homes. Since September 2004, more than 1,800 homes have received a minor, medium or major renovation. In 2009, another 459 homes will be renovated. By the end of the initial development period in February 2015, a total of 3,015 homes will have been renovated, showing first-hand the improvement in the quality of life at Fort Polk.
All told, $32.2 million will be spent in 2009 on development and construction activities at Fort Polk. Another $1 million will be used for capital repairs like street paving, HVAC duct upgrades, new roofs and drainage projects. The money spent on renovations, new homes and neighborhood centers is an investment in the future of Fort Polk.
Social Sharing