WASHINGTON — A new Armed Forces Reserve Center may be coming to the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.
U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins announced Friday the U.S. Department of the Army has awarded more than $23 million to help construct such a facility. The building would support the missions of the Maine National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion and other units, the senators said in a statement.
The facility aspires to be modern and energy-efficient. According to the Army, the funds will go to installing a parking shelter, vegetated roof system and a solar panel system to convert sunlight to electricity, Collins and Snowe said in a news release.
“This Army funding is certainly welcome news and will help continue to make vital infrastructure improvements at Brunswick Landing,” the senators said. “The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority has worked tirelessly to ensure Brunswick Landing is an economic beacon in our great state and this work is yet another achievement along that path of continued success.”
The announcement is the latest in the redevelopment of the former base. This week, 100 acres was transferred to the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority and the town of Topsham. The transfer included 88 acres of property on the base and 12 acres located within the Topsham Commerce Park — the former Navy Annex — known unofficially as the “Topsham triangle.”
With the latest transfer, MRRA now has received about 1,700 acres — more than half of the former base’s total area of 3,200 acres.
The Times Record reported in February 2011 that in his proposed 2012 Pentagon spending plan, President Barack Obama included $23 million designated for the construction of a Maine Army National Guard training center on former Brunswick Naval Air Station property. Approximately $13 million was appropriated in fiscal year 2010 for a similar center on base property for Marine Corps reservists.
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