As spring rolls on, the post’s East Barracks Project is steadily coming closer to completion, said Nathan Butts with the Resident Office of the Army Corps of Engineers at Fort McCoy.
In his April 24 update, Butts said the contractor, L.S. Black Constructors, was increasingly making progress on the project. And as of April 24, the project was at 97 percent complete, and work was also scheduled to be 97 percent finished at this time.
Butts wrote in the update, “Mechanical commissioning punch list is being worked on. Punchlist items continue to be corrected throughout the building. Mechanical modification was emailed to the contractor for a proposal.
“Contractor sawcut parking lot; cleaning and sealant to take place (next),” he wrote April 24. “Contractor demobilizing trailers and equipment from project site. Topsoil placement is ongoing where trailers and lay down area were located.”
Since its initial construction phase in May 2024, construction of this barracks have been nonstop by the contractor who was awarded the project in February 2024. The exact contract amount for the project when it was awarded was $27,287,735.
As the workers with L.S. Black Constructors work on this project, they can look over to the two other barracks — the first two erected — they constructed in the same block. They are a familiar name in the construction history at Fort McCoy, having not only built the first two of the 60,000-square-foot transient training troops barracks, but they also built the new brigade headquarters building located in the same block as the barracks buildings.
The contract duration is scheduled for completion in 780 calendar days, Army Corps of Engineer contract documents show.
From the building description, when completed, the building will be able to house up to 400 people like the other completed barracks in the same block. According to the scope of work, it’s going to be “made of permanent construction with reinforced concrete foundations; concrete floor slabs; structural steel frames; steel stud infill; masonry veneer walls; prefinished standing seam metal roofing; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning capabilities; plumbing; mechanical systems; and electrical systems. Supporting facilities include land clearing, concrete sidewalk paving, general site improvements, and utility connections.”
Work also continues in 2026 by contractors on the 1600 block on Fort McCoy’s cantonment area with the construction of the fiscal year 2024-funded $55.75 million Collective Training Officers Quarters Project by contractor BlindermanPower (Construction).
Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works planning officials said when all the construction is done with projects on this part of Fort McCoy, it will demonstrate a major transformation of the block and hold lots of barracks space for troops training at the installation.
This project and others like it also have an economic impact on local economies.
For the past seven years, and even before that, millions of dollars in construction dollars have been counted by the Fort McCoy Plans, Analysis, and Integration Office as a key factor and contributor to the installation’s annual economic impact each fiscal year. Since fiscal year (FY) 2019, more than $310 million has been calculated in new construction of buildings and ranges alone, reports show.
Projects at Fort McCoy like the current $27.3 million East Barracks Project, the recently completed $28.08 million South Barracks Project, and the ongoing $55.75 million Collective Training Officers Quarters Project, are among those projects adding to the economic impact currently.
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Fort McCoy’s motto beginning in 2026 is “Training the Total Force and Shaping the Future since 1909.”
The installation’s mission: “Fort McCoy strengthens Total Force Readiness by serving as a training center, Mobilization Force Generation Installation, and Strategic Support Area enabling warfighter lethality to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars.”
And Fort McCoy’s vision is, “To be the premier training center supporting the most capable, combat-ready, and lethal armed forces.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin. The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.” Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”