A&M-San Antonio negotiates 5-year lease from Brooks Development Authority.
Air Force officers, administrators, former employees and their families gathered in Building 180 on Brooks City-Base Wednesday for the ceremony that officially inactivated the 311th Air Base Group and commemorated the 95 years of service from the Air Force on this base.
“The 311th is not retiring. The 311th is being inactivated,” Maj. Sean Kelly, chief of staff of the 311th Air Base Group said. Although the Department of Defense can decide to reactivate the 311th Air Base Group, they cannot be reassigned to Brooks City-Base.
The event followed a dinner Tuesday night at the Grand Hyatt Hotel commemorating the base established on January 19, 1918.
The last Air Force group at Brooks City-Base will leave this base on Sept. 15 as part of the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC), according to the BRAC website. With the base closure, renewed attention has brought to light the vast number of medical and technological achievements achieved there.
The renowned researchers and scientists that worked at Brooks City-Base contributed to the efforts for space exploration by contributing to the development of new technology such as life support systems, space suits and astronaut food.
The base now appears vacant compared to years past. However, a growing list of companies and schools, including Brooks Academy, and now Texas A&M-San Antonio, are now occupants.
“Bottom line is the closure saved the Air Force money,” John “Mac” McCarthy, deputy director of the 311th Air Base Group, said during the ceremony.
In the decade since Brooks City-Base was established, the research and business park has grown substantially, attracting a Wal-Mart, Target and chain restaurants.
Reasonable leases and abundant retail along Southeast Military Drive are attractive features for institutions, including the university which outgrew its first building before completion.
Marshall Lasswell, director of facilities, said Brooks Campus was appropriate because it already had classrooms and offices which were conducive to what they were looking for.
Since 2002, the Air Force has been leasing their facilities through the Brooks Development Authority. In June, A&M-San Antonio and Brooks Development Authority announced the details of a new lease on over 77,000 square feet of classroom and office space.
Building 775 was built in 1996 to accommodate 1,500 students for the Air Force academic program in aerospace medicine.
“The building was used as a school for aerospace medicine,” Laswell confirmed.
In addition to the recent economic growth and development that has skyrocketed on the South Side of San Antonio, came the construction of Texas A&M University-San Antonio campuses — the Main Campus Building is located at One University Way, on loop 410 between S. Zarzamora and Moursund roads. Brooks City-Base Campus is at 2601 Louis Bauer Drive.
Main Campus, the first completed building on a proposed 700-acre development, was completed and opened to students and faculty in August.
With an enrollment of over 3,500 students, administrators at Texas A&M-San Antonio quickly realized they would have to make room for nearly half of the current student population by leasing two buildings on Brooks Campus.
Texas A&M-San Antonio has a 5-year lease of $3.5 million, according to a Brooks Development Authority June press release.
In addition, Brooks Development Authority spent $300,000 in renovations and improvements of the Air Force Student Academy in order to facilitate a smooth transition for inbound students and administration of A&M-San Antonio.
The second building on Brooks Campus will be a state of the art gymnasium facility that is expected to open in Spring 2012.
Ken Mitts, vice president of finance and administration at this university, said that Monday through Saturday, there are about 1,206 students per day with an influx in students, and on week days 6 p.m.-8 p.m. there are as many as 2,317 students.
The campus houses the School of Business, the School of Arts and Sciences’ communications program and portions of the School of Education, including kinesiology, leadership and counseling, Laswell said.
Also, it provides some university services such as student engagement, disability services, recruiters, a welcome center, computer lab, business advisors and Avanti, which is a self-serve cafe.
Construction on Main Campus is ongoing as new buildings are approved and built. As for now, Brooks Campus will be a home to a large number of commuter students who will contribute to the economic growth spurred by the Air Force and now rejuvinated by members of the redeveloped installation.
