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Old housing to be demolished at Selfridge

  • Published
  • By 127th Public Affairs
Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich. --  Patrons to Selfridge who come through the base's front gate off Jefferson and Hall Road will begin noticing a significant demolition project at the installation. Starting early next week, old housing units will begin to be taken down. 

According to Mr. John Tadian, an engineering technician with the 127th Civil Engineer Squadron, the demolition projects which have been in the queue since prior to the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure, will finally begin. The 900 and 700 area housing units were slated for demolition when the US Army Garrison still owned the property. However, once that entity was targeted to leave Selfridge, the project was put on hold. 

"All the buildings between the former day care center and the marina, excluding the post office, which was not in this contract, are listed for demolition in the project," said Tadian. "It also contains the 700 housing area, which is basically the four housing units north and north east of the commissary." 

The 700 area homes were established in 1950 after World War II and Selfridge saw need to grow. The row houses each had eight three-bedrooms and one bathroom at approximately 1500 square feet. The 900 area homes, dubbed "Vandenberg Village", started going up at Selfridge in the early 1950s also. Ranging in size from one bedroom to 4 bedroom apartments, the Village consisted of 511 units in 33 buildings at one time, but were downsized by 3 buildings and 109 units over time. Fires, razing and dedication to other missions slowly consumed the apartments. 

None of the housing at Selfridge has been occupied since 2007. Large upgrades to the homes had not been made in decades; but the properties were maintained by the Army as housing for military members and their families. Based on the age and condition of the homes and the costs assocated with maintaining or upgrading, the Army had determined the units needed to be demolished rather than refurbished and had planned to do so in 2005. 

The former officers' housing, the 400 area brick homes near the golf course, are still not slated for demolition. The future of these facilities has not yet been determined. The Air National Guard's 127th Wing is the host unit at Selfridge. As a reserve forces component, the National Guard cannot maintain or run a housing function at the base.