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Jan. 15, 2010
Mayor and council tour new AFRH
GULFPORT — The men and women who were willing to risk their lives for freedom’s sake will soon be coming back to Gulfport to live in the new $195 million Armed Forces Retirement Home.
This week the General Services Administration and the AFRH invited members of the City Council and Mayor George Schloegel on a tour of the construction site. The federal government expects to open the home during a ceremony on Nov. 9, 2010, just two days before Veterans Day. Residents will begin moving in as early as October.
The new home is a pleasant sight to our veterans who have longed to return to the Coast since Hurricane Katrina, many of whom have since lived at the nation’s only other AFRH campus in Washington, D.C. Most of the Gulfport veterans spend numerous hours each week watching the construction progress on a live webcam at www.afrh.gov.
“Our nation survives on the courage of those who defend it,” Mayor Schloegel said. “It is not enough to hold a parade when they return from a war zone, if we don’t see to it that our veterans are cared for with dignity and honor for the rest of their lives. That is what this new facility will do.”
The 600,080-square-foot complex has three 9-story towers with parking below. There are 584 individual rooms with private balconies overlooking the beach, and another wing for long-term care. In addition, the facility features a movie theater, bowling alley, swimming pool and a Hall of Honor.
“This is a beautiful facility and we know our veterans who were relocated to Washington after the hurricane are very eager to come home,” Councilman R.Lee Flowers said. “And we are just as eager to have them home.”
The new complex replaces the old 11-story, storm-damaged facility that was imploded back in 2007.
“Our veterans deserve superior care their entire lives and that is what they will receive at the new Gulfport home,” said Councilwoman Libby Milner-Roland.
To view more photos from the facility tour on our Facebook page, click here.
Office of Public Information - rlafontaine@gulfport-ms.gov - Phone: 228-868-5782
P.O. Box 1780 Gulfport, MS 39502-1780 - FAX: 868-5800
