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For more than three years, National Center for Simulation and the Orlando Economic Development Commission have co-chaired the Metro Orlando Defense Task Force (MODTF) with a mission to mitigate the risk of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) on NSA Orlando, and its Team Orlando tenant organizations.
The risk is due to base overcrowding and reliance on 200,000 square feet of leased office space at an annual cost of $5.4 million. In the current budget environment, reliance on high cost leased space is a serious vulnerability with or without Congressional approval for another round of BRAC.
On Monday, Feb. 22, the MODTF and the State of Florida reached a major milestone with the acquisition of a Partnership IV building, offering 84,000 square feet as part of the effort to retain the area’s defense simulation cluster in the event of a new BRAC round. Partnership IV, the former SAIC building, was acquired with State funds appropriated in 2014 and 2015.
The next immediate steps are to complete force protection upgrades and make the building interior ready for Team Orlando personnel to start relocation this summer. The building will be operated and maintained by University of Central Florida and house both Team Orlando and UCF personnel. Once Team Orlando personnel re-locate, their cost of occupancy (rent) in Orlando will be reduced by nearly 80 percent!
The members of the MODTF who played an important role in ensuring this plan achieved success were: Office of the Orange County Mayor, Office of the City of Orlando Mayor, Orlando Economic Development Commission (EDC), University of Central Florida (UCF), The Corridor, Central Florida Partnership, Central Florida Research Park, and National Center for Simulation.
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