The country?s most extensive anti-terrorism training facility ? planned on a 1,300-acre parcel of land on the U.S. Army?s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford County ? should break ground in late 2007 with a late 2008 delivery of “the initial grounds and training facilities,” said Mike Smith, vice president of LCOR Inc., managing partner of the joint venture selected in February for the special leasing project.
LCOR, a diversified Pennsylvania real estate investment, development and property management company with project offices in Bethesda, and limited partner, Weston Solutions Inc., a Pennsylvania environmental services concern, jointly led the winning APG Development Partners venture and planned to deliver their draft “business and lease plan” to the Army in early August.
However, the detailed work-up of the project?s proposed funding, development, environmental impact mitigation, tenant-landlord agreements, business plan and operation had its deadline extended to Sept. 15 because of environmental review scheduling consolidations with BRAC-related moves to the 72,000-acre base.
“The decision was made [to] grant us some additional time so that public comment could be collected on the [environmental impact statement], and then disseminated to us and others,” Smith said.
Smith explained that there are “wetlands and other environmental considerations ? that we have to take into account ? such that the project will not impact negatively any of those environmental resources.” He added that “a very significant portion of the 1,300 acres [will] have some very significant constraints ? and once we recognize them, we?ll work around them.”
The ambitious project, whose yet-to-be-determined debt and equity funding will be handled by New York investment banking firm and an LCOR owner Lehman Brothers, will feature a range of anti-terrorism, law-enforcement and disaster response training “environments” ? including airport, maritime, transit and driving scenarios as well as shooting ranges.
APG Development Partners will finance, develop and operate the facility, charging users, and paying rent to the Army.
Smith said that hotel and dining facilities will also be designed in to allow interested national, state, city and regional emergency response agencies to “buy [extended] blocks of time in differenttraining venues from us ? if necessary on an a la carte basis.
APG Development Partners has chosen Baltimore-based The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company as its general contractor.
Other local subcontractors include Bel Air?s Frederick Ward Associates, civil engineering; Columbia?s Transwestern Commercial Services, marketing; and Stanton Communications Inc. of Baltimore, public relations.
