Construction will be a common sight this summer on Parris Island

By PATRICK DONOHUE

The Corps rebuilds, renovates and revamps the depot’s aging facilities and infrastructure.

In addition to a $78 million project to build barracks for the 3rd Recruit Battalion, eight construction projects will be launched on the base, which the Corps has called home since 1915.

Projects include:

• $3.5 million in repairs to the depot’s main drag, Boulevard de France, and nearby Cuba Street.

Crews have been sealing cracks, replacing joints and installing new curbs and gutters, and repaving patches of the street as necessary, said Maj. Gabrielle Chapin, depot spokeswoman.

Work will be done during non-recruit graduation weeks to prevent traffic delays.  The project is expected to be completed in the next two weeks.

• $2.9 million in renovations to the exterior and interior of Traditions, a restaurant in the former officer’s club. The club closed in February, and crews began renovating the kitchen and food preparation space and updating the building’s plumbing, doors and windows.

The work is expected to be done in the fall.

• A new $3.6 million youth center is expected to open in August near Wake Village. It will feature game rooms and indoor basketball courts.

"We have young people and teenagers on base from all over the country, so the youth center will be a place where they can go and meet each other," Chapin said.

• $680,000 to turn an old trailer park near Elliot’s Beach into a campsite that can house 18 recreational vehicles and include a new bathroom and shower facility.

The project is expected to be done in late 2009 or early 2010, Chapin said.

The depot also is slated to receive $10 million in federal stimulus money for energy-efficiency and infrastructure-improvement projects, which are expected to begin this summer.