Last month, Mayroad joined Edwards Air Force Base leadership to break ground on the development of the Air Force’s first commercial apartment complex at the base. The project will supplement housing shortages and challenges faced by unaccompanied service members.
The new complex will feature 142 apartments, which can support 246 service members, to help alleviate the current housing shortage at Edwards AFB.
“Many Airmen at the 412 Test Wing have been impacted by the shortage of housing options on or in proximity to the base. That’s why we’re going to flip the script and try something new, something tailored for the men and women who serve here and to our families,” said Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations and Environment. “I can say this, we hear you, we see you, but now it’s time to deliver for you.”
“Edwards Air Force Base is a place of firsts: our first jet took off on the lakebed just a couple miles that way. We first broke the sound barrier here less than a month after the Air Force was created. Then Mach 2, Mach 3, Mach 3.2, Mach 6.7; all firsts … Every generation of bombers since World War II has flown here, including the first flight of the B-2,” said Col. Douglas Wickert, 412th Test Wing commander. “There’s a reason that we like to say we live for first in flight test and to that long list of historic firsts that have taken place here Edwards Air Force Base, I am so thrilled that we now get to celebrate one more: the Air Force’s first commercial apartment complex.”
The design and cost estimates for the project are slated for review early next year, with construction expected to begin soon after. The first residents are expected to move in by summer 2026 and will include students at the Test Pilot School and Senior Airmen, E-4 and above.
The new complex will serve as a model for housing solutions at similar installations around the country, potentially changing the way the Air Force addresses housing shortages at remote bases. Historic innovations to housing are possible through the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI), which allows privatized housing providers to support military members and their families. The MHPI program was created by Congress to address the unique housing challenges of the Armed Services. Housing unaccompanied servicemembers at remote bases is one such challenge that MHPI providers are helping to meet.