Fiscal year 2020-funded barracks construction project completed at Fort McCoy

Photo By Scott Sturkol | A second new transient training troops barracks is shown April 3, 2023, at Fort McCoy, Wis., just a couple days after it was listed as 100 percent complete and turned over from the Army Corps of Engineers and the contractor to the Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works. The $18.8 million project was awarded to L.S. Black Constructors, which is the contractor who built the first barracks building at Fort McCoy, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Resident Office at Fort McCoy. The contract was awarded Sept. 29, 2020, and the notice to proceed was issued Oct. 28, 2020. The contract duration was scheduled for completion in 780 calendar days. The majority of the work of this barracks project was completed by December 2022. Some delay was just waiting for furniture to arrive to turn it over, for example. This barracks is different than the traditional barracks located throughout the installation that is more than 80 years old. This new building is four stories and can house 400 people in approximately 60,000 square feet. The building is built with the latest in construction materials and includes state-of-the-art physical security and energy-saving measures. The project also is part of the Fort McCoy Master Plan that looks at continuously upgrading the installation’s infrastructure to be prepared for the future. The Army Corps of Engineers has managed both barracks projects at Fort McCoy and is also managing an ongoing brigade headquarters project on the post. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol, Public Affairs Office, Fort McCoy, Wis.)  

FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

04.03.2023

Story by Scott Sturkol                                                                                                

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Construction of the first new multi-million-dollar transient troop training barracks at Fort McCoy, funded in fiscal year 2020, was completed and turned over to the Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works (DPW) on April 1, said Ken Green with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Resident Office at Fort McCoy.

The $18.8 million project was awarded to L.S. Black Constructors, which is the contractor who built the first barracks building at Fort McCoy, Green said. The contract was awarded Sept. 29, 2020, and the notice to proceed was issued Oct. 28, 2020. The contract duration was scheduled for completion in 780 calendar days. Most of the work of this barracks project was completed by December 2022. Some delay was just waiting for furniture to arrive to turn it over, for example.

In the last update about the project in March, Green said all remaining work that had to be done was completed and the building would be officially signed over to Fort McCoy DPW on April 1.

On April 15, 2021, an official groundbreaking ceremony was held for this barracks project. Fort McCoy leaders participating in the ceremony included Maj. Gen. Darrell Guthrie, then-88th Readiness Division commanding general and Fort McCoy senior commander; then-Garrison Commander Col. Michael Poss; Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works Director Liane Haun; Sean Giese, resident engineer with the Omaha District Corps of the Army Corps of Engineers; and James French, chief operating officer with LS Black Constructors. Also attending were Wisconsin State Rep. Nancy VanderMeer and staff personnel for other state and federal lawmakers.

Haun opened the ceremony discussing the project. Guthrie followed Haun to discuss the importance of the construction of only the second and third brick-and-mortar barracks at Fort McCoy since the 1940s.

“Projects like the transient training barracks complex are a direct result of the continued support for Fort McCoy,” Guthrie said. “And they enhance the ability of the Army, and especially the Army Reserve, to train here at Fort McCoy. The United States Army Reserve is the key customer for Fort McCoy. Its economic impact alone in Wisconsin is $323 million a year.”

In the same ceremony, Poss also highlighted how construction projects like the barracks projects add to a big economic impact in the local area. Fort McCoy’s total economic impact for fiscal year 2020 was an estimated $1.479 billion, for fiscal year 2021 it was $1.93 billion, and for fiscal year 2022 it was approximately $2.542 billion.

Poss also said in the ceremony that despite the difficulty the pandemic presented at the start of the project, Fort McCoy trained more than 60,000 troops in fiscal year 2020 and continued to strive forward with training and infrastructure improvements like the barracks projects.

“Fort McCoy continues to demonstrate its resolve to be a preferred training location for the Army Reserve, the National Guard, active Army, and joint services,” Poss said. “Our efforts today ensure that Fort McCoy’s relevance as a Total Force Training Center is here for many years to come.”

DPW Master Planner Brian Harrie said before all these projects began that essentially these new barracks meant an entire transformation for the 1600 block of Fort McCoy’s cantonment area which previously was filled with barracks built more than 80 years ago.

The completion of this second barracks project also is the second of eight new buildings planned for the entire 1600 block, Harrie said. The plan is for four barracks overall with the same specifications, three 20,000-square-foot brigade headquarters buildings, and one 160-room officer quarters.

“The 1600 block will be completely transformed when all of this construction is completed years from now,” Harrie said. “The 1600 block is a great location for this transformation, too, because it places these facilities for transient training troops near the post’s service-related facilities, such as the commissary, Exchange, and McCoy’s Community Center.”

And just like the fiscal year 2019-funded barracks that was turned over to Fort McCoy DPW in April 2022, this barracks should be available fairly quickly for troop use, DPW officials said.

In 2022, troops were using the new barracks throughout the year during training operations with great feedback on its capabilities, officials said. Plans are in the works to get started on additional projects as well.

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.

• Date Taken: 04.03.2023
• Date Posted: 04.06.2023 17:33
• Story ID: 442207
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US