Base Reuse Can Get Tricky

Lennar, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, which recently purchased its fifth closed military base site in California, has met with opposition from many angles.

1 minute read

March 23, 2006, 11:00 AM PST

By David Gest

"...Lennar executives have learned there's nothing easy about turning vacant military land into profitable housing developments. At Hunter's Point, a former Navy shipyard in southern San Francisco, Lennar faces demands to build more affordable houses for an economically depressed population as it tries to market homes in an area many San Franciscans consider environmentally unsafe."

"The incentive for home builders: The government assumes responsibility for much of the costly environmental cleanup and sifting through competing community demands for the abandoned bases, limiting the builders' exposure to delays. Builders pay to construct roads and other infrastructure improvements. They profit by selling the redeveloped plots of land or newly-built homes."

[Editor's note: This story will be available online without a subscription for seven days after the publication date.]

FULL STORY: Building Homes On Old Bases Isn't So Easy

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 in The Wall Street Journal

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