By Justin Creech
Staff Writer
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Family housing at Fort Belvoir has a new property manager as of Friday.
Michaels Management Services became the new property manager at Fort Belvoir, replacing American Management Services East LLC (Pinnacle).
This move does not change the terms of current leases and requires no action from Families on post during the transition process.
“At the request of the owner, Fort Belvoir Residential Communities LLC,” said Laura Zaner, Michaels Organization Vice President of Communications. “Michaels Management Services, an Accredited Management Organization, has assumed management for the Family housing at Fort Belvoir.”
Residents can still call (703) 454-9797 for work orders and continue previously scheduled moves in and out. The Welcome Center and Village Centers operating hours remain the same and land-line phone numbers also remain the same.
Updated housing email addresses and cell phones for employees, and MMS’s new website, will require more time to implement.
For any disruption in maintenance services, residents are instructed to call (866) 282-1569.
“Residents should expect no disruption in service and should see an improvement in the quality of service in the coming months,” said Joy Lutes, Fort Belvoir Residential Communities spokesman. “Residents are encouraged to call if they experience any disruption in services.”
Ron Hansen, president of Michaels Management Services, is excited about the move, having spent many years on military installations, and Fort Belvoir in particular, during his military career.
“Michaels is extremely proud to have the trust of FBRC to take care of the servicemembers and their Families at this wonderful installation,” said Hansen. “I lived in housing at Fort Belvoir twice in my career so it is very special to me personally.”
MMS is part of The Michaels Organization, a family of eight integrated but independent companies that has been a national leader in the housing industry for 40 years. Michaels Management Services and its affiliated company, Michaels Military Housing, have been developing and managing Family housing for the U.S. Army since 1998, as part of the Department of Defense’s Military Housing Privatization Initiative. MMS has access to all of the resources of the entire organization.
Known for its dedication to providing a rich quality of life for residents and for taking exceptional care of military Families, Michaels Management Services is committed to providing superior services, including timely and responsive maintenance, as well as meaningful community programs and activities.
“Among our most popular are cooking classes, ‘Biggest Loser’ contests and other health and wellness programs, arts and crafts events for children, and Halloween parades,” said Zaner. “We call our resident outreach program ‘Community Connections,’ and we sponsor all sorts of programs, events and classes for the residents to supplement those offered by the Army’s Family support programs.”
Michaels Management Services also provides a deployed spouses program to assist Family members with a deployed spouse.
“If they need Christmas lights hung, bikes assembled, furniture rearranged — anything like that — they can ask MMS and we’ll take care of it for them,” said Zaner. “The Deployed Spouses Program ensures that any Family experiencing a deployment can count on Michaels Management Services to be that extra set of “hands” while their loved one is away.”
Since Michaels Management Services is part of The Michaels Organization, Belvoir Families living in housing are eligible to apply for an educational scholarship through The Michaels Organization Educational Foundation.
These scholarships can be used to pay tuition at any college, university or vocational training programs in the country, and they can be reapplied for each year that the residents live in MMS housing.
“Many military spouses and children have taken advantage of this great program,” said Zaner. “The program has endowed more than 1,300 scholarships and distributed more than $3.1 million in educational grants to Michaels residents since 1993.”
According to Lutes, The Michaels Organization recently completed a similar transition at Fort Benning, Ga., which is why they were brought to Fort Belvoir.
“Their experience, personnel and strong leadership should enhance resident services for all Families at Fort Belvoir,” said Lutes.
