By Carolyn Cole
Published on September 18, 2008

Construction of a $37.7 million armory in Mustang is set to begin by November, and officials plan to hold a groundbreaking within the next month.

The 190,000 square-foot Armed Forces Reserve Center is expected to take about a year and a half to build, said Lt. Col. Andy Carlson, facilities engineer at Oklahoma Military Department’s Joint Force Headquarters in Oklahoma City.

The armory will be located on about 40 acres of industrially zoned property east of Sara Road and south of state Highway 152, near the Industrial Gasket facility.

Once built the facility is expected to bring 100 workers and 880 drilling Reserve and National Guard soldiers from across the state to town each weekend.

In July, officials awarded a “design-build” contract to Korte Construction Company of St. Louis for the Mustang facility and another $43.8 million center in Norman. Oklahoma City firms LWPB Architecture and MacArthur Associated Engineers were also selected to work on the project.

Officials broke ground on the Norman facility last week, which will include a 220,000-square-foot center with an additional 30,000-square-foot field maintenance shop. Carlson said officials are nailing down a date for Mustang’s ceremony.

“We have three or four days floating around, and we are trying to get work it into the governor’s schedule,” he said.

Five more armories are scheduled for construction in Broken Arrow, Muskogee, Enid, Lawton and McAlester as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure plan. The Oklahoma Legislature allocated $1.5 million to help buy property in Mustang and Broken Arrow. The federal government is expected to shoulder the costs of construction at an estimated $243 million.

The BRAC plan also called for the closure of 53 existing armories and six field maintenance facilities in Oklahoma, including an El Reno and Will Rogers airport facility. Under these plans, the armories are to be either sold or given to state, city or county governments or agencies.

“We will retire over 55 facilities, most over 70 years old,” Carlson said. “While these historic facilities have served us well, we have outgrown them and they no longer support the training and readiness needs of our modern forces.”

The Mustang facility will resemble a 21st century interpretation of the traditional armory, similar to those built by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s.

In that same spirit, Carlson said the contractors have a goal that at least 74 percent of the labor and materials for the Norman and Mustang projects will come from Oklahoma sources. He said he hopes that will help bolster local economies.

The facility will include offices, a drill hall, classrooms, supply rooms and vaults to store gear and weaponry, he said.

“All of the infrastructure needed to train and get the guys ready,” he said.