Aurora Military Housing completes JBER home privatization process Published July 22, 2011 By Aurora Military Housing JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- On July 1, Aurora Military Housing III, LLC began ownership and operations of the former Army housing that is now part of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Aurora was selected by the U.S. Air Force to privatize military family housing at JBER-Richardson last December. The privatization of JBER-Richardson neighborhoods of Birch Hill, Kodiak, Moose Haven, Cottonwood, Fireweed, Raven Ridge and Puffin Park will provide new and renovated housing for 1,240 military families. The Aurora team consists of the following principle parties. Affiliates of Hunt Development Group; LP of El Paso, Texas and JL Properties, Inc. of Anchorage will be the owners and developers of the project. The principal design-builders will be Davis Constructors and Engineers, Inc.; Osborne Construction Company, with Kumin Associates, Inc.; and RIM Architects-Alaska as the project architects. The team has designed the new homes and construction will begin almost immediately. Additionally, demolition has commenced and continue throughout the summer. Under the terms of this agreement, the Air Force leases to Aurora almost 370 acres of land on JBER-Richardson as part of a 50-year lease and conveys 1,242 existing homes and other improvements. This closing transfers the existing houses to the property of Aurora. JL will be in charge of property management at JBER-Richardson, including operation and maintenance of the homes and facilities. This transaction fully privatizes all of the family house on JBER. Privatization of housing is not a new initiative in the Department of Defense. The federal government realized in the mid-1990s that military family housing was in immediate need of improvement or replacement. Budgeting through traditional military construction approved by Congress was not a timely possibility. In response, Congress created the Military Housing Privatization Initiative as part of the 1996 National Defense Authorization Act. The MHPI allows the military services to privatize the housing on all domestic installations, expediting the improvement and replacement process. This is a 50-year commitment to provide quality homes for our nation's service members and their families.