As much as $260 million in construction work is under way or planned in the near term at Fairchild Air Force Base, including a replacement of its runway, a major fuel-line project, and a continued overhaul of base housing, military officials say.

The biggest of the planned projects is a $50 million to $100 million reconstruction of Fairchild's sole, 13,900-foot-long runway. That project, which is slated to get under way sometime in the next two years, will require the base to relocate temporarily its air tankers and aircraft crews to another location during the 10-month construction, says Lee Paul, engineering flight chief at Fairchild. Bids for the project could be sought as soon as this coming fall, but at least by fall 2010, Paul says.

The runway's alignment won't change, but its width will be reduced to 150 feet from 200 feet currently, as few modern military planes need such a wide landing strip, he says. The runway likely will be closed between February and October in the year following when the construction bid is awarded. The Spokane office of Tampa, Fla.-based PBS&J is designing the project.

Meanwhile, the base plans to seek bids later this year for between $10 million and $15 million to replace the fuel lines that run between its bulk fuel storage area and two pump houses on base. That six-month project will take place next year and will include replacement of about 8,600 linear feet of fuel line, Paul says.

Also, the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, an associate of Fairchild that tracks U.S. citizens missing abroad and trains military and government personnel in case of capture, has received funding through the Navy to build training facilities at its White Bluff location, north of Airway Heights at 11604 W. Newkirk Road. That project is expected to cost between $10 million and $15 million, with a contract to be awarded next January, he says.

In that project, one large building and several smaller structures will be constructed to support the agency's Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training program.

The Navy Facilities office is executing design and construction contracts for the project, but Fairchild's 92nd Air Refueling Wing technically owns the White Bluff complex and will oversee the project, Paul says.

In addition, work is continuing on a $65 million, long-term project to upgrade housing on the base. That work is being done by private developer Balfour Beatty Communities, a subsidiary of London-based Balfour Beatty PLC, which also now is managing all base housing at Fairchild. Such privatization is being pursued by the Air Force at bases throughout the country, says Ron Daniels, deputy civil engineer at Fairchild.

As previously reported, Garco is working on a $29.4 million design-build contract for a regional Armed Forces Reserve Center on base. Bernardo-Wills Architects PC, of Spokane, designed the 208,000-square-foot facility, which includes six buildings for training and staff offices, as well as vehicle parking, and will replace two reserve centers in the Spokane area: the Mann Hall Army Reserve Center, in Hillyard, and the Walker Army Reserve Center, in Spokane Valley.

The project is expected to be completed in August. Daniels says a medical building could be added there later.

In addition to the housing, runway, and fuel-line work, the base is focusing on projects to improve efficiency in a lot of its buildings and on eliminating World War II-era wooden warehouses there. As it does so, the base is employing design elements such as brick facades on buildings in community areas, and concrete block construction with metal paneling accents and brown metal roofs in the industrial work areas around the flight zone, Daniels says.

In all, roughly $30 million to $40 million worth of smaller capital projects are done at Fairchild each year on average, Daniels says. Among those planned or under way are:

•A $16.8 million update to the former base hospital to reflect better its current use as a medical clinic. The project, which is expected to wrap up next month, is being done by United Excel Corp., of Shawnee Mission, Kan., and includes adding more office space and removing older records storage and surgical facilities, Paul says.

•A new, $5.3 million building for Fairchild's physiological training unit, on which Larkor-MZT, a joint venture from the Boise, Idaho, area, is expected to break ground soon. ZGA Architects & Planners, of Boise, is designing that project.

The facility will replace a World War II-era warehouse that currently houses the training unit. Though the new building will have 12,000 square feet of floor space, it will allow Fairchild to demolish about 75,000 square feet of old warehouse space.

The building will house the base's pressure chamber, which will be relocated there from elsewhere at Fairchild. From the outside, the pressure chamber looks like a large tank, but inside it has seats designed to simulate an aircraft cabin, Daniels says. In training, it is depressurized to simulate possible adverse conditions in an airplane. The new facility also will be equipped with a darkroom for night vision apparatus training, he says.

Daniels says Fairchild's physiological training unit is the only one of its kind in the region, and service members frequently travel here from other military installations to train in it.

•A $4 million exterior remodel of a 70,000-square-foot warehouse building commonly referred to as "the glass building." Garco Construction Inc., of Spokane, recently began work on that project, which includes reroofing the concrete structure and updating its glass windows to improve energy efficiency. The former engine maintenance shop now is used primarily for storage, Daniels says. The project is expected to be completed around September.

•A $2 million to $3 million renovation of the dental clinic, which is located next to the base medical clinic. That project is being designed by the Federal Way, Wash., office of BergerABAM Engineers Inc., and is expected to take place next year.

•About $1.8 million in paving projects, including a $662,000 job funded by federal stimulus funds. Daniels says that in seeking stimulus dollars, Fairchild was a "victim of its own success," because it already had secured funding for most of its shovel-ready projects. Still, the base received a total of $2.4 million in stimulus funds, which are being used for the paving project, some water-line work, airfield striping, and other smaller projects, Paul says.

•A $547,000 project to construct a 700-square-foot administrative support building for the fuel-receiving area. The Seattle office of Martinez, Calif.-based Engineering/Resources Remediation Group Inc. recently began that project. That unit has been using a modular trailer for its offices for a number of years, Daniels says.

•About $3 million in energy conservation improvements that are part of a nationwide Department of Defense energy-savings contract with Milwaukee, Wis.-based Johnson Controls Inc.

•A 3,000-square-foot addition to the base's youth center being done by M.J. Takasaki Inc., of Seattle. That $730,000 project is nearing completion.

Housing upgrades

The big housing upgrade and privatization project at Fairchild is well under way, says Jack Barb, development director here for Newton Square, Penn.-based Balfour Beatty Communities. Overall, the about $65 million project will include construction of 81 new houses and renovation of 560 other homes on base and should be completed by 2014, Barb says.

GMH Military Housing, of Newton Square, Penn., won the 50-year on-base lease and housing management agreement in 2007, then was acquired last year by London-based Balfour Beatty plc and has been renamed and made a subsidiary of that company. Balfour Beatty manages the housing at 44 U.S. Air Force bases and is one of several companies with similar agreements, Barb says.

Work began last November on the planned 81 new single-family homes, as well as a $1.5 million community center, and is expected to be completed early next year and will cost about $30 million, he says.

That works out to about $352,000 per home, but the cost also includes setup and infrastructure improvements to the property and is part of a larger three-base housing privatization agreement that also includes work at Tinker Air Force Base and Travis Air Force Base, Barb says.

Most of the homes will have three or more bedrooms. The community center, which is expected to open in February, will have group meeting rooms, a big-screen television room, a multimedia room with computers, and a weight room.

The renovation of an additional 560 housing units will continue for about the next five years, he says.

That will include the conversion of 108 duplexes into single-family homes, and in most units, complete updates to kitchens, bathrooms, and interior finishes and floors. All of the houses will get air conditioners, which weren't authorized under the former Air Force rules, and the homes will be outfitted with front-yard sprinkler systems.

Under its contract with the Air Force, Balfour Beatty will own and manage the base housing, but the Air Force will retain ownership of the land and will lease the houses.

Also as part of the agreement, GMH bought 85 acres of land and vacant military housing in the so-called "Geiger Heights" area in Airway Heights from the Air Force, as well as some Air Force-owned housing in Cheney. Paul says GMH then sold that land, and now Balfour Beatty is using funds from those transactions to help pay for the housing upgrades on base.

Balfour Beatty is paying for the construction and receives money for renting the houses out to base personnel and to maintain the property.

When the base housing project is completed, Fairchild will have an inventory of about 641 homes, down from about 800 homes now. The base currently has about 2,600 active-duty military members.

Only those who have families qualify for base housing. Single service members live in dormitories on base or receive housing allowances to live off base. Barb says the base housing is about 96 percent occupied, and there's routinely a four-week waiting list for houses.

Barb says Balfour Beatty is employing local and regional contractors, such as Murphy Bros. and Wm. Winkler Co., both of Spokane, for at least 80 percent of the housing work.

It already has agreements with local contractors for $12 million in work, he says.