Sijan Hall, built in 1968, is expected to need a major remodel to upgrade its heating, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems. It also needs work to renovate window walls, bathrooms, cadet rooms and workspaces, an academy spokesman said. It’s a six-story building with 625,000 square feet housing 891 dorm rooms. (U.S. Air Force Academy)
(Tribune News Service) — The Air Force Academy estimates over time that one of its two dormitories will need almost $600 million to remodel.
Sijan Hall, built in 1968, is expected to need a major remodel to upgrade its heating, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems. It also needs work to renovate window walls, bathrooms, cadet rooms and workspaces, an academy spokesman said. It’s a six-story building with 625,000 square feet housing 891 dorm rooms.
The academy expects the work on the building could take place over five phases and cost $597 million, a written statement said.
The dorm’s needs were raised in a Wednesday meeting of the Board of Visitors at the Academy. The board includes members of Congress, who can ask questions about academy operations.
Patrick Flood, representing U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R- Neb., highlighted some his concerns about the building based on an earlier tour.
“The herculean efforts the team has to go through just to keep mechanical systems functioning is not something we should be accepting as a status quo of operation,” he said.
Col. Amy Glisson, the installation commander, pointed out in her presentation that keeping the dorm up to date is key to recruiting cadets.
“We are trying to compete against the Princetons and Harvards for talent,” she said.
At the same time, barracks across the Department of Defense are in need of upgrades, an issue lawmakers are planning to tackle, Flood said.
A 2023 Government Accountability Office report found that “thousands of service members may live in substandard barracks.” Some of the problems include mold, mildew, pests, extreme temperatures, broken windows and locks.
The funding requirements of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan led to the deferred maintenance, Flood said.
However, the two dorms at the academy are not classified as unaccompanied housing, the way barracks are, and so they would not qualify for that expected funding, he said.
“The academy is forced to fight for this out of cycle,” Flood said.
An academy spokesman said in an email the best option for funding for Sijan would come through the Air Force’s Facilities Sustainment, Restoration and Modernization program, a funding stream focused on upkeep. In the 2023 fiscal year, the Air Force’s deferred maintenance and repair backlog reached more than $46.8 billion, according to written congressional testimony.
The dormitory project is not expected to receive funding this year or next year, according to the academy spokesperson.
The academy’s other dorm, Vandenberg Hall, was restored from 2007 through 2014 for about $143 million, a spokesman said.
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