A newly renovated kitchen in one of 50 single-story duplexes nearing completion at Sebille Manor on Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is nearing completion of dozens of family housing units for junior enlisted airmen at this strategic air hub in Japan’s southern island chain.
The agency’s Japan district plans to turn over 50 freshly renovated duplexes, or 100 total housing units, at Sebille Manor to the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base by early May, Jesse Pruneda, resident engineer of the corps’ Kadena office, told Stars and Stripes during a site visit Dec. 14.
The units, originally built in the 1960s, were gutted down to their concrete shells. They now feature modern flooring, countertops, tile and bathrooms. The wing plans to install all new appliances.
The units are part of a broader Defense Department push to upgrade family housing on the island. The Corps of Engineers is also renovating additional units on Kadena and nearby Marine base Camp Foster in Chatan.
“Besides the concrete walls and the exterior, everything else is brand new,” Pruneda said as he walked through one of the units.
A newly renovated bathroom in one of 50 single-story duplexes nearing completion at Sebille Manor on Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)
The Corps of Engineers was established in 1802 to provide public engineering services that “strengthen national security, energize the economy, and reduce risks from disasters,” according to the agency website. Its engineers have explored and mapped the Western frontier of the United States, surveyed roads and canals, and built missile sites and NASA facilities.
It is responsible for all U.S.-funded military construction projects on Okinawa, Pruneda said.
Renovations at Sebille Manor were greenlit in 2020 at a cost of around $53 million, project manager Mighty Binonwangan said Dec. 14. Construction by Japanese contractors with Corps of Engineers support began a few months later.
Most of the units, located a stone’s throw from the Department of Defense Education Activity’s Bob Hope Elementary School, are single-story with four bedrooms, Pruneda said. Additions to each unit increased their size to 1,470 square feet.
Thirteen two-story duplexes feature three bedrooms, he said. Some of the new units have 2½ bathrooms, engineer Bryan Ciccocioppo told Stars and Stripes.
All bedrooms in the renovated units are getting ceiling fans, Pruneda said. The kitchens feature an island with a counter for additional cooking space.
Each duplex will gain a second parking space, Binonwangan added.
In addition to Sebille Manor, the engineers over the summer began renovating 130 single homes in Stearley Heights, near Kadena’s Gate 2, Pruneda said. Those units, built in the 1950s, are for field grade and noncommissioned officers and will take two years to complete.
Renovations to 200 units at the three North Foster Towers on Camp Foster will be finished sometime in the spring, Ciccocioppo said.
“We’re building something for the troops that are going to keep this region safe,” Ciccocioppo said. “They’re going to have a clean, comfortable place to live, with modern appliances and modern finishes.”
Japanese contractors Takashi Kobayashi, left, and Jimmy Belarma Mitra of Tokyo-based Exeo Group Inc. pause during work at a two-story duplex on Kadena Air Base on Dec. 14. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)
