Sailors Laqwan Frazier, left, Drake Doran and Blair Engel like what they see in the dining room of the newly remodeled, apartment-style barracks at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.
Mike Nortier joked about the tight quarters he experienced as a young sailor as he spoke during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for newly remodeled barracks at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station last month.
A peek inside one of the revamped units at Barracks 12 was eye-opening for the base’s commanding officer. Each residence now features a kitchen, laundry unit and living room to go along with three bedrooms that house a total of six sailors.
“It’s really made it a home for them,” Nortier said. “Instead of a bed and a place to hang your hat, now you’ve got a home.”
The $19 million project at Ault Field took nearly two years and was overdue for the four-story concrete masonry structure built in 1974, said Peggy McClary, installation housing program manager at NAS Whidbey.
There are no current plans to remodel any of the other 10 barracks, she said.
“It was time,” McClary said. “We have ratings for our buildings. It had one of the worst ratings.”
The design is a shift in the Navy to more apartment-style living quarters, improving quality of life for sailors.
Each unit was converted from four bedrooms to three, using the additional space for the kitchen, laundry compartment, living room and dining area.
“I think there is a plan in place to have future projects similar to this,” McClary said, adding that some have already been done at other Puget Sound naval installations.
Bremerton-based general contractor Vet Industrial did the heavy lifting on the NAS Whidbey project, which also includes a movie room and game lounge in common areas and a large courtyard with barbecues.
Architects even incorporated a historic feature in the design, preserving a solid steel door built on a tracking system that served as an entrance to a fallout shelter.
The door remains open yet is no longer able to move.
“Times have changed from the Cold War era,” Nortier said.
As they have inside Barracks 12 units, where residents no longer have to leave to community areas to get a warm meal, do laundry or put their feet up and watch television.
The 42 units are prized among the sailors who reside there.
“I walked in and was like, ‘Wow, this is nice,’” said Drake Doran, recently stationed at NAS Whidbey. “I took a video and sent it to pops.”
“I like it a lot,” said Laqwan Frazier, staring into the kitchen. “There’s lots of cooking space.”
Blair Engle said the rooms are larger and there’s more storage than at the barracks she’s stayed in.
“It’s bigger than any apartment I’ve had,” she said.
