At McConnell, there’s no place like (an upgraded) home

Andrews Drive is lined with new two-story houses that, aside from their color, look the same – right down to the American flags hanging from their porches.

The street is part of McConnell Air Force Base housing, which has seen significant upgrades since a project to renovate old homes and build new ones launched last year.

Corvias Military Living, a private organization under a 50-year contract with the Air Force, is overseeing the project.

When the project is completed in late summer of 2018, there will be 364 houses on-base, which is actually fewer than there were before the project began.

Officials at Corvias say the newer, larger homes – they even smell new walking through them – will attract more airmen to live on-base. The houses are already at about 98 percent occupancy, and Corvias has a “quite big waiting list” of people wanting to get in, said Brandy VanVickle, business director at Corvias’ McConnell office.

“The housing they will find on-base is probably nicer that what they will find in the outside area,” VanVickle said.

‘Best housing’

Master Sgt. Jeremy Knodel lives in a new four-bedroom house at McConnell with his wife and six children.

Out of the six bases he has been stationed at, Knodel said, this house far surpasses others he has lived in.

He said he likes the clear separation between dining room, living room, basement and bedrooms.

“All the kids’ toys and game systems are set up (in the basement),” he said. “If we have teenagers staying up late at night playing Xbox, they’re two stories down from us. There’s no sound travel coming up.”

Knodel said he also can fit his eight-seat dining room table in the new house.

“It’s definitely the best housing I’ve ever been in,” he said.

Updating housing

Before the new housing project began, most of the houses at McConnell were single-story brick structures built in the 1950s. The Corvias houses are across Rock Road from the main McConnell installation.

Some of those homes were demolished years ago, and many more will be demolished in the coming years, to be replaced by the newer homes.

To live on-base, airmen must have dependents – single airmen cannot live in on-base housing.

To get into the neighborhood, a military ID is required, and an airman stands guard at the gate at all times.

And it’s probably the only neighborhood in Wichita where you can see a static display of an Air Force plane out your back window.

There are some additional perks to living on-base if you’re an airman at McConnell: Your utilities are covered by Air Force housing allowances and Corvias takes care of the lawn, changes light bulbs and does maintenance.

Col. Albert Miller, commander of the 22nd Air Refueling Wing, said in a release last year that the new homes would “allow (airmen) to focus 100 percent on the mission.”

Rank plays a part in deciding how nice a house you qualify for in on-base housing.

“Obviously, the longer you’ve been in the service comes with higher perks,” said Kelly Karl, director of construction at Corvias Military Living. “Depending on the rank bands, you might have upgraded countertops, but all the homes are built with a certain quality.

“From a construction practice, we don’t change anything.”

The Air Force strives for about 30 percent of its airmen to live at their assigned base, Karl said, though the airmen are not required to do so.

That number is somewhat based on manpower assigned to each base, VanVickle said, so even though there will be fewer houses at McConnell when the Corvias project is completed, the 30 percent target should still be met.

“The last thing we want is a lot of homes out there that aren’t occupied,” Karl said. “It’s a win-win situation.”

Airmen living on base essentially rent the homes, which Corvias is responsible for maintaining for 50 years.

Corvias’ partnership with the Air Force began in September 2013. It is responsible for McConnell’s base housing as well as that of five other Air Force bases and nine Army installations in the U.S. – including Fort Riley.

“Most developers, you develop a home or a neighborhood and you’re gone; we’re here for 50 years,” Karl said. “Most of our team lives in the community, so we really want to give back to the community we live and serve in.”

The upgrades

The current housing project, which began in July 2015, will add 157 new homes and renovate 207 existing homes at McConnell. It’s the first major housing project at the base since 1998.

By late summer 2018, an 8,000-square-foot community center will be installed in the neighborhood, complete with a swimming pool, fitness center and flex horseshoe pit – “all the things that go with bringing a community together,” Karl said.

There will also be a dog park, walking trails and playgrounds scattered throughout the neighborhood.

“We feel that brings people out of their house to get to meet their neighbors,” Karl said. “We try to do that in all of our installations, to get away from segregated housing and make it to where they truly have a neighborhood.”

Before existing homes are demolished, Corvias invites Habitat for Humanity to take things like sinks and light fixtures – whatever they want, Karl said.

“We try not to waste anything and make sure everything has a repurpose,” he said. “As much as we can donate to the local community, the better off we are in the end – it saves us, as well, from having to manage those things when our demolition contractors are in.”

This story was originally published July 4, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "At McConnell, there’s no place like (an upgraded) home."