Plan would trim 8 floors from Fort Lee hotel

Plan would trim 8 floors from Fort Lee hotel
By Steve Szkotak - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 17, 2009 5:39:13 EST

PETERSBURG, Va. — A 15-story hotel proposed for Fort Lee has been reduced to seven stories, in part because of homeland security concerns.

The redesigned hotel will still contain 1,000 rooms for military students who will report to Fort Lee every week by the thousands under a vast, $1.4 billion expansion of the base.

Pete Isaacs of the Army’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command said Wednesday that several factors went into the design decision, including fears it could be a target because it rose so high from the flat expanse of the base.

“It’s not just anti-terrorism protection,” said Isaacs, special assistant to the commanding general. “It gets into access of fire and safety trucks, and all that sort of stuff.”

The on-base lodgings are intended to accommodate the more than 2,000 military students who will be there every day after an expansion in 2011 under the recommendations of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_army_lee_hotel_121709/