PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. (Jan. 20, 2023) – U.S. Army Garrison Presidio of Monterey welcomed the first residents to the new, energy-efficient Lower Stilwell housing development with an official key handover ceremony Jan. 19.
“We are truly blessed to receive this opportunity,” Spc. Darius Brown, a religious affairs specialist with the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, told an audience of more than 35 people during a ceremony marking the occasion across the street from his new home. He will live there with his wife Markeisha and their 4-month-old daughter Janai.
The 44-acre, $80 million housing development is located in the Ord Military Community and provides 108 new housing units for junior enlisted personnel. The development includes environmentally friendly features that will save energy and water, spacious floorplans, a big playground for children and more. Many of the homes, including the Browns’, have a view of the Pacific Ocean.
Col. Sam Kline, commander of USAG PoM; Adam Hay, regional vice president of The Michaels Organization; and Casey Vazquez, community manager for The Parks at Monterey Bay, welcomed the Browns to their new home at the ceremony. The partnership between the Army and Michaels develops and oversees military housing on the Monterey Peninsula, while The Parks manages the properties.
Kline said the key handover represented more than 10 years of planning, resourcing and financial work on the part of Army officials and their partners at Michaels and the Parks.
“Thank you for all the people who put this all together,” Kline said.
Hay, a veteran, said talking about the quality of the new housing almost gets him choked up. “I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years – privatized property management – and I’ve never seen houses like this,” he said. “It’s a long time coming that we can actually do this for military families.”
Vazquez presented the Browns with their keys and a welcome basket, and Brown thanked not only Vazquez and the Parks for their help securing the house, but everyone else involved.
Markeisha Brown, who unlocked the door after the ceremony and could barely contain her excitement as she and her husband walked through their new home, said she was extremely thankful.
“It’s the start of a new year with a new house and we have a new baby, so everything is just new, starting fresh,” said Markeisha Brown, a child and youth program assistant at the nearby Monterey Road Child Development Center. “I work down the street, two minutes away, so I’m very familiar with the neighborhood. Now I’m actually a part of it.”
Oscar Ordonez, housing manager for the garrison, said the Parks, which manages the development, will move residents into homes as they become available. The homes are for military families only, and housing officials will follow the regular application and waiting list procedure to fill the homes.
On average, the homes are 1,800 square feet, and are designed to LEED silver standards and feature solar panels, Energy Star appliances, LED lighting and water-efficient fixtures. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a green building standard focused on environmental sustainability and energy efficiency. The “silver” standard means the houses will be approximately 30% more energy efficient than the average home.
Social Sharing