Hunt Military Communities is negotiating with the Navy to build 8,000 new units of barracks at Naval Station Norfolk, according to the company.
Navy officials told WHRO that they are working on a plan to privatize barracks housing throughout Hampton Roads. The Navy notified Congress in November that it intended to solicit bids.
Hunt is looking at property inside Naval Station Norfolk and will seek private financing. The company hopes to have a deal put together within six months.
The Navy wants to have more options for sailors living on ships, said Hunt CEO Brian Stann.
“The Navy really looked at it and did not feel that that was the quality of life they wanted long term for their sailors, and that was in line with them being able to have the best naval fighting force that they could have,” Stann said of the Navy’s current housing options.
Hunt owns Homeport Hampton Roads. Originally developed in 2007, the 3,600-bed project in Norfolk and Newport News is an early public-private partnership with the Navy.
The company rehabilitated existing barracks and built new housing for junior sailors. It is one of two Navy pilot projects to expand private housing for junior sailors. The other is in San Diego.
Anticipating a larger contract, Hunt recently announced it bought out American Campus Communities, which had been managing Homeport Hampton Roads.
“We have owned the project for some time, but we had hired a third party to do the property management,” Stann said. “This was years ago before Hunt was a more sophisticated, more robust property manager in the military housing space.”
Hunt expects the market for privatized housing to grow throughout the services, he said.
Hunt is already one of the largest operators of private military housing throughout the country.
More than a decade ago, each of the services turned over nearly all family housing to several private contractors. Beginning in 2017, the contracts came under intense scrutiny from the military and Congressional investigations after families complained of sub-standard conditions, including mold and rodents.
There have been changes since then, Stann said.
“Congress, the military and the private partners all work together to make some reforms really giving residents a better voice, giving them an opportunity to dispute different things that maybe they're not happy with,” he said.
Barracks operate differently than the family housing. Junior sailors rotate in and out of the barracks, as they deploy, leaving their rooms empty.
The existing Homeport project has a 97% occupancy rate. The new project is expected to resemble college dorms, with two rooms sharing a common kitchen. It will be built with a combination of funding from the Navy and private financing over five years, Stann said.
