Navy Base Readies New Apartment Buildings

Single sailors will get a little privacy at the end of March when they move out of crowded dormitory rooms and into new “garden-style” apartments at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme.

The three new apartment buildings, which can hold up to 262 male and female sailors, are part of an $18-million military construction project designed to improve the quality of life for enlisted personnel. They are replacing World War II-style barracks, which were demolished in 1996 to make room for the new buildings. Sailors have been in temporary housing for more than two years.

In the old quarters, up to four sailors lived in one room and dozens shared one bathroom. Now, sailors will have private rooms and will share a kitchen and a bathroom with one other person. The new rooms, decorated by an interior designer, are even equipped with framed posters, plastic plants, phones and walk-in closets.

Navy officials said the apartments weren’t built to fill a housing shortage. In fact, the new buildings can house about 100 additional sailors. Petty Officer Joe Coyt, who will manage the apartments, said the extra space may be needed to accommodate overflow from Point Mugu.

As part of last year’s consolidation of the Navy bases at Point Mugu and Port Hueneme, military and civilian personnel can be assigned to either site. The change may relieve some overcrowding at Point Mugu.

And this year, the bases will have to make room for 1,000 more military personnel and 1,500 family members who are being transferred from San Diego’s Miramar Naval Air Station to Point Mugu.

The last of four squadrons is scheduled to arrive in May, and Point Mugu officials say many of them, primarily those with families, will have to find housing off base.

The military provides a housing allowance for all personnel. Linda Wadley, a Port Hueneme spokesperson, said the base is required to provide housing only for the most junior sailors, and tries to accommodate the more senior sailors as well.

“Because of the high cost of housing in the area, it is in the best interest of the military and the Navy to provide on-base housing,” Wadley said.

Coyt said the Navy decided to renovate out-of-date housing to raise the quality of life on the base and to retain personnel. In 1995, Pentagon leaders reported that dilapidated military housing discouraged soldiers from reenlisting.

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Now the Navy is encouraging bases to provide private rooms for all single enlisted personnel. Some of the higher-ranking sailors will get two rooms to themselves--one as a bedroom and one as a living room.

Coyt joked that the Navy is pampering the young sailors, whose average age is 21.

“We’re hoping we’re not spoiling them,” he said. “They’re supposed to be in the military, and now it will be like they are in college.”

Seaman Carol Nuttman, 24, who will move into one of the new buildings as soon as it opens, said she cannot wait to have a kitchen.

“Instead of using the microwave to eat TV dinners all the time, now I’ll actually be able to cook a steak or fried chicken or whatever I want,” she said.

Though she has never had a horrible roommate situation, Nuttman said, she is looking forward to having her own room and sharing a bathroom with only one other person.

“I have heard some bad stories and have seen the aftermath,” Nuttman said. “And it’s not a pretty site.”

At the old barracks, sailors lined up at one of eight adjacent sinks to brush their teeth, ate meals in a cafeteria, or “galley,” and only had one-quarter or one-third of a room to themselves.

When those barracks were torn down three years ago, most of the 160 single sailors moved into a complex called Seaport Inn. This spring, after some remodeling, Seaport Inn will become a quasi-hotel, for military and civilian personnel visiting the base for a short time.

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With less than two months before the completion date, construction crews are putting the final touches on the buildings. They are landscaping, moving furniture and installing fire alarms.

And in March, after a Navy inspection, Nuttman and her fellow sailors can pack up their boxes for moving day.