Improvement projects slated for Redstone housing

A mix of projects – some of them major upgrades like new HVAC units and exterior painting – are planned for Redstone housing.

“We have a lot of projects that we want to do for our properties,” Brittany Morrison, community director of Redstone family housing, said. “Some things are going to take priority like the HVAC, things that are necessities on the property.”

No date is set for that work yet.

“We’ve got to get the bids, which we’ve already started getting, and then we’ll have to have signatures (from the Army and Hunt) on the contract” with a vendor to be able to move forward with the HVAC replacements, Morrison said.

“That (project) is throughout the property, the most aged units.”

Redstone family housing is managed by Hunt Military Communities, the largest owner of military housing in the United States.

Some HVAC units have already been replaced over the years, “so it’s going to be the units that need to be replaced that are the most aged,” 138 units in all, Morrison said.

Redstone housing includes 353 single-family homes and duplexes/townhomes. “Currently we are 60% OET (other eligible tenant) and the rest active duty,” she said.

“Exterior painting is something we put in the budget to start next (calendar) year,” she said. “Our plan is to do a section each year to get them taken care of. Basically, a neighborhood each year is our plan.”

She said the work may have to be split up among some of the larger communities, with as many as 90 units.

“We’re going to try to do 40 to 50 homes next year and then do another batch of homes the following year.”

Morrison said the landscape contractor is finishing up a tree removal project in the neighborhoods, mostly in the 400s and 300s, by the housing office on Hughes Road, and the stump grinding in the fronts of homes still must be done.

“We’re waiting until the August time period for PCS season to dwindle down,” she said.

“We replaced 23 roofs on a mixture of homes located in the Freedom Landing, Endeavor and Voyager neighborhoods,” she said. “We do have more roofs to do, and that project will start back up again in August.

“We had to halt everything with all the (permanent change of station) movement right now,” she said. “We’ll finish up the tree removal and the roofs and (the HVAC replacement) is the next major project.”

The PCS season is the busiest time of the year for the housing staff.

“We’ve had 17 move-outs just in the past 30 days,” Morrison said in an interview on July 16. “We have 23 move-ins over the next 30 days. It is mostly active duty, but we do have a few retirees that are moving in as well.”

There’s still a wait list for units.

“We’re about three months out on our wait list for our civilians. For our active duty, we have no wait list for them, depending on what they’re needing.”