U.S. Navy puts 2K acres of former Roosey Roads land on block
By Carmen Enid Acevedo
Editor, Pesquisa Boricua
Special collaboration with News is my Business
“Bundy” is the larger of the two public sale parcels, covering approximately 1,539 acres.
The U.S. Department of the Navy’s Base Realignment and Closure Program Management Office is putting up for sale some 2,036 acres of land belonging to the former Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Ceiba, announcing a public online auction on its Web site, where strikingly, it describes the land as ideal “for work or play.”
The properties up for sale are along the boundaries with Ceiba and Naguabo, which the federal entity said would go on the block via an online auction in the Fall.
The announcement specifies that the land will be sold in two parcels of 1,539 and 497 acres, which reportedly include 800 homes and buildings. A description under the “What’s for sale?” tab describes the history of the construction of one of the largest U.S. Naval bases outside its territory, its geopolitical importance and identifies the parcels for sale as “Bundy” and “Capehart.”
“Today, there is no similarly featured real estate available for sale anywhere on the east coast of the North American continent or in the Caribbean region. The Roosey Roads public sale offering enjoys many incredible natural features and come with a considerable inventory of existing building structures to include hundreds of residential dwellings, commercial and other building improvements and many, many more amenities,” according to the Roosey Roads redevelopment sitio web.
The page specifies the details of the plots of land will be made public “soon.”
Although it is the smaller of the two public sale parcels, “Capehart” anchors the southern entrance to the former Naval Station's harbor.
The lands will be offered “in two sale packages through an online auction. A request for bids will be released in coming weeks to all parties of record on this web site,” according to information posted on the site.
The website gives credit to real estate brokers Colliers International, which are now also selling a medical building in Century City in California and an industrial park complex in Long Beach, in the same state — properties it features along with the sale of the Puerto Rico land.
“From the nearby, commanding views of the beautiful and lush Caribbean rain rorest mountains of ‘El Yunque,’ to the soft rolling green hills framing the glistening waters of the Caribbean and the Spanish Virgin Islands, Roosey Roads truly is an unmatched investment/development opportunity in a breathtaking location,” the sellers said on the online property description.
The once vibrant Roosevelt Roads base closed in 2004, less than a year after the Navy left Vieques. With the closing, some 6,000 jobs and about $300 million in economic activity were lost.
