Challenges

Conversion of a military base requires agreement of not only of community residents and developers but also of the branch of the U.S. military that would continue to use the base for housing.

In creating the community, developers had to respect the wetlands, open spaces, and Spanish Colonial architecture of existing buildings.

Hamilton Park

Creating a small town required the expertise and cooperation of numerous community groups.

Framework

In the early 1930s, the U.S. Army moved its airfield from San Francisco’s Crissy Field to Hamilton Field in Marin County. Hamilton Air Force Base, as it became known after 1945, served as a training and staging area for Pacific operations during World War II. Later it became home base for numerous military, training, medical, transport, and relocation programs. It was decommissioned in 1975 and became Hamilton Park, the first military base to transfer to private-sector ownership. In 1993, after Novato’s citizens had rejected many redevelopment plans, they approved the Hamilton Field Master Plan, which included the construction of more than 1,000 homes on 400 acres along with open space, retail stores, and commercial activities. Holliday Development and a handful of other developers partnered to create the first phase, consisting of six new neighborhoods in the heart of Marin County, all designed with pedestrians, families, and transit systems in mind.

townhomes

Impact

Three years after their completion, Hamilton Park and the Villas at Hamilton Park are part of a thriving Hamilton community. Thanks to developers’ expertise and attention to quality, Hamilton is growing rapidly and is one of the first successful transfers of a military base to the private sector.

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