For decades, a closed military base just sat there. Fences up, windows boarded, grass growing through the runway cracks. Nobody wanted the headache of redeveloping it. That’s changed. Cities and developers are turning old bases into some of the most desirable places to live in the country.
A 1993 economic impact study on the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base closure predicted more than 5,100 lost jobs and unemployment near 20% for the area.
Luckily none of that happened. The base is now home to some of the priciest real estate on the Grand Strand, and it’s not the only old base that turned things around.
So, what’s turning old bases into hot real estate? Let’s look at this topic.
Why Former Military Bases Are Becoming Prime Real Estate
Former military bases are becoming prime real estate because they hand developers something hard to find elsewhere: hundreds or thousands of acres, already cleared, already close to downtown.
It’s about land that’s ready to go instead of a farm field waiting on a rezoning fight.
In fact, BRAC closures regained close to 90% of the jobs communities lost, adding roughly 115,000 new jobs nationwide, according to the Department of Defense. That shows redevelopment isn’t just possible, it usually pays off.
Another reason developers like these sites is the history that already comes with the land. A base that trained service members for 50 or 60 years has history built in, and that’s harder to fake than a new subdivision sign.
What Makes These Mixed-Use Communities So Desirable
These places blend homes, shops, parks, and offices into one walkable stretch, so nobody has to drive for a coffee or a haircut. That’s kinda rare in most new subdivisions.
Old hangars and barracks get turned into shops, breweries, or event space instead of getting bulldozed. Parks and open space carve straight through what used to be a runway or training field.
Housing options mix condos, townhomes, and single-family homes, so more than one type of buyer fits in. A walkable town center anchors the whole neighborhood, usually right where the base headquarters used to sit.
Street names and old signage keep a piece of the base’s military history alive. For example,
Myrtle Beach, SC
The Market Common has that laid-back coastal vibe built right in. It sits on the old Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, which shut down in the early 1990s, just a mile from the beach.
It’s not the cheapest spot on the Grand Strand, but it’s not out of reach either. Homes across its neighborhoods run from the low $400,000s to the upper $700,000s & the average closing price sits around $445,000.
The Market Common homes span everything from live/work townhomes above the shops to single-family houses in Emmens Preserve. Even Seagate Village, which is literally old base housing turned into condos.
So, yeah, it’s become one of Myrtle Beach’s most sought-after spots.
Lowry, Denver, CO
Lowry feels more like its own small town than a former Air Force base. It trained more than a million service members before closing in 1994, and developers turned the nearly 1,900-acre site into over 4,500 homes.
It’s pricier than it used to be, but people don’t seem to mind. Home prices now run from the $400,000s for a condo to $1.2 million or more for a single-family house, with a median around $775,000.
Yeah, that’s not cheap, but with 800 acres of parks and a walkable town center built in makes it worth it.
Economic Benefits of Military Base Redevelopment
A closed base can gut a local economy fast. Redevelopment is how a town claws that back, and the numbers back it up.
Take Fort Ord in California. Since the Army left in 1994, redevelopment has added more than 11,000 housing units and created over 18,000 jobs on the former base, according to the EPA.
That’s on top of a public university campus, a state park, and a veterans clinic, all sitting on land that used to be off-limits.
New residents also mean new tax revenue for towns that lost their biggest employer. Restaurants, retailers, and schools move in behind the rooftops, and the tax base ends up bigger than it ever was under the military.
Challenges of Transforming Former Military Bases
Redevelopment sounds great on paper. In practice, it’s slow, and plenty of projects hit real walls, like-
- Cleanup delays lasting decades before construction begins.
- $350 million and rising has been spent on Fort Ord cleanup.
- Multiple federal, state, and local approvals required.
- Old buildings need complete plumbing, wiring, and heating updates.
- Failed deals, such as Fort Monroe’s canceled hotel and marina.
What Successful Military Base Redevelopments Have in Common
Line up Lowry and the Market Common side by side, and the same pattern shows up over and over. Both had one redevelopment authority calling the shots instead of a dozen builders fighting over parcels.
Neither one bulldozed the old buildings, they leaned into them instead. Housing stayed mixed too, not just luxury condos or just starter homes, but a little of everything.
The parks got planned from day one instead of squeezed in once the lots sold out, and a walkable town center sits right in the middle of it all.
What This Trend Means for the Future of Urban Development
More than 350 installations have closed under BRAC since the 1980s, and a lot of that land is still figuring out its second act. The ones getting it right are turning old bases into a blueprint that other cities keep borrowing from.
For buyers, that means walkable neighborhoods with real history in places that didn’t even exist a generation ago. For sellers and investors, it means demand that keeps climbing in a spot nobody else can copy.
