Encroaching Development Makes Base A Candidate For Closure

Homestead Air Reserve Base is a candidate for possible closure by the federal government's Base Realignment and Closure commission (BRAC), and the property is being eyed by a very high-profile developer.

The blog Homestead is Home reports that the base will possibly wind up on the closure list for the expected 2015 BRAC round due to encroaching development around the base. The Keys Gate Charter High School was recently built in the flight path for the base over the objections of Air Force officials, and a general building boom in Homestead in south Florida is creeping nearer and nearer to the base. Much of that development is residential.

The blog indicates that one of the potential developers of the property … should it be turned back over to the county … is Donald Trump, who has envisioned a "Homestead Movie Studio" on the site. But the county may also revive plans for a commercial cargo relief airport, taking some of that traffic away from Miami International Airport. That plan was initially developed back in 2001 by the Homestead Air Base Developers Inc.

Homestead ARB was established in 1942 as Homestead Army Airfield (AAF). After its destruction by Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, the base was taken off active status and rebuilt, reopening as an Air Force Reserve facility in 1994. The base is home to the 482d Fighter Wing (482 FW) assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command Tenth Air Force.

(Homestead AICUZ study image provided by the U.S. Air Force.)

FMI: www.homestead.afrc.af.mil/