Week of January 20, 2011
| Military goes to national bidding for Homestead Special Operations Command headquarters By Zachary S. Fagenson The military later this year will start bidding out a $41.5 million headquarters for Special Operations Command South in Homestead, but local contractors will have to compete with bidders from around the country. The command arrived in Miami-Dade in 2004 and has since been operating out of temporarily-leased modular trailers. "The trailers have exceeded economic life expectancy and require above-average sustainment repairs for continued use," said Maj. Armando Hernandez, the command's public affairs officer. "The physical condition and size of the trailers no longer support [the command's] mission requirements… to plan and execute special operations in support of US Southern Command in Latin America and the Caribbean." Requests for proposals are to be issued nationally in September. The facility "is scheduled to be occupied no later than December of 2012," according to a presentation from headquarters Commandant Maj. Stewart L. Mason during the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce's goals conference last June. The new headquarters is to rise on county land adjacent to Homestead Air Force Base at the corner of Turner Street and Bikini Boulevard. It was once thought the base might be located near the US Southern Command's newly opened 630,000-square-foot headquarters in Doral. Maj. Hernandez said details of the lease are still being negotiated. Once finished, the special operations base is to comprise about 123,000 square feet and hold about 300 people. Miami-Dade County to reward jobs creation. Read the complete story when you subscribe to e-Miami Today. |
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