Fort McPherson


Fort McPherson was a U.S. Army military base located in Atlanta, Georgia, bordering the northern edge of the city of East Point, Georgia. It was the headquarters for the U.S. Army Installation Management Command, Southeast Region; the U.S. Army Forces Command; the U.S. Army Reserve Command; the U.S. Army Central. Situated on and located four miles southwest of the center of Atlanta, Fort McPherson has history as an army post dating back to 1867.

History

Named after Major General James Birdseye McPherson, the fort was founded by the U.S. Army in September 1867 on the grounds where Spelman College is now located. During the Reconstruction Era, between 1867 and 1881, it was named the "McPherson Barracks", and served as a post for U.S. troops in Atlanta, garrisoning elements of the 2nd, 16th and 18th U.S. Infantry Regiments and the 5th Artillery during their mission to enforce U.S. regulations after the American Civil War.
With the end of Reconstruction, the barracks were closed and sold off in 1881, though the site continued to be used during summers by U.S. troops stationed in Florida. In 1885, the land was again purchased by the Army at which to station ten Army companies.
During World War I, Fort McPherson was used as a camp for Imperial German Navy prisoners of war and as a training site for the Active Army and Georgia National Guard. A rifle range was operated along the ridge where current Stanton road now exists. The deploying officers and NCOs surveyed the local Civil War entrenchments parallel to the railroad along Utoy Creek to learn about trench warfare.
During the General Textile Workers Strike in 1934, the fort was used as a detention center to hold picketers who had been arrested while striking at a cotton mill in Newnan, Georgia.
Fort McPherson's nearest Army neighbor, and its sub-post, was Fort Gillem, previously established as the Atlanta Army Depot in 1941, is located in Forest Park, Georgia, approximately 11 miles to the southeast. Fort Gillem was a logistical support base, housing some Army, Department of Defense, and other government agencies. Those units include the First Army, the U.S. Army and Air Force Exchange Distribution Center, the Military Entrance Processing Station, and the U.S. Army Second Recruiting Brigade. Fort Gillem was also the host to the only crime lab of the U.S. Army. Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem shared most common services. Since the closure of Fort McPherson, Fort Gillem has been reduced to the Gillem Enclave partnership with Fort Gordon, both due to the 2005 BRAC commission.
In 2007, 2,453 active duty soldiers and 3,784 civilian employees were at both forts, with a total active duty and civilian employee payroll of $529,874,972.
With only 102 family quarters and 272 single soldier billets at Fort McPherson, and 10 family quarters at Fort Gillem, the active duty military and Department of the Army civilian employees lived in civilian housing in the surrounding Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, Fayette, and Henry Counties.
Other important users of the fort facilities were the 98,700 or more Atlanta area military and naval retirees and their family members. These residents live mostly in Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Clayton, Fayette, Gwinnett, and Henry counties.

Transportation

For urban mass transit, Fort McPherson was mostly served by the Lakewood/Fort McPherson MARTA station.

After closure

On June 26, 2015, Fort Mac LRA became the owner of 145 acres of property on the former Fort McPherson in Southwest Atlanta, Georgia. Fort Mac LRA is responsible for ensuring quality reuse and redevelopment of 145 acres on the former Army post. The Fort Mac LRA board of directors are nominated by the Mayor of Atlanta, the Fulton County Commission or the Governor. In June 2015, 330 acres of Fort McPherson was purchased by actor/producer Tyler Perry to be the new home of Tyler Perry Studios.

2005 Base realignment and closure (BRAC)

As a result of the BRAC 2005 recommendation, Fort McPherson was closed down September 15, 2011, and Fort Gillem reduced to a military enclave.

Units relocated

The following units were relocated in the late 2010s from Fort McPherson: the Headquarters of the U.S. Army Forces Command and the Headquarters of the U.S. Army Reserve Command, were moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Headquarters, U.S. Army Central, was moved to Shaw Air Force Base, Sumter, South Carolina. The Installation Management Command, Southeast Region and the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, Southeastern Region were moved to Fort Eustis, Virginia. The Army Contracting Agency, Southern Region Office, was moved to Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
The following Fort Gillem units were relocated in the late 2010s: Headquarters, First Army, to Rock Island Arsenal, Ill.; 2nd Recruiting Brigade to Redstone Arsenal, Ala.; the 52nd Ordnance Group to Fort Campbell, Ky.; the 81st Regional Readiness Command Equipment Concentration Site to Fort Benning, Ga.; and the U.S. Army Central Headquarters support office to Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service Atlanta Distribution Center will cease operations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will move off the installation.
Fort Gillem became a contiguous enclave for the Georgia Army National Guard, the remainder of the 81st RRC units, the Criminal Investigation Division Forensics Laboratory and the Navy's Reserve Intelligence Area 14, which relocated from Naval Air Station Atlanta. Units have requested discretionary moves into the enclave, included the Atlanta Fraud Residence Agency, the Southeastern Fraud Field Office, the South East Regional Storage Management Office and the Civil Support Readiness Group-East.

Forest Park/Fort Gillem Redevelopment

The Forest Park/Fort Gillem Local Redevelopment Authority primary development objectives were to stimulate economic growth, create a high-value redevelopment plan; improve education, quality of life, and the perception of the area and ensure one community. The redevelopment plan adopted was primarily light industrial and logistical, with a smattering of commercial, residential, and retail space.

McPherson Redevelopment

The McPherson Planning Local Redevelopment Authority was the entity authorized by the Department of Defense after 2005 to develop a plan for what was to become of Fort McPherson after the base was closed. It was a multijurisdictional body representing surrounding communities impacted by the base closure. It bought the land for about $30 million. The MPLRA executive board approved a reuse plan in September 2007 with a science and technology park and a mix of shops, residences and office space:
  • An employment district of approximately, envisioned as a biomedical research park. The research park would be anchored by state investment and contain Georgia University system components. It is ultimately planned to include approximately of office and lab space and more than 1,900 units of high-density residential space. The research park will be developed by a task force that includes the University System Board of Regents, local governmental entities and private partners.
  • A mixed-use, high-density retail area about in size. This high-density area is seen as a "Main Street" development with a mid-rise residential area, a hotel, public plazas and street-level retail, restaurants, offices, and grocery stores.
  • A historic district covering approximately. Most of the buildings in this area are already on the National Register of Historic Places. This district centers on the existing parade ground and is expected to be developed for mixed use, but with a historical cultural theme. Within the historic district, Staff Row would be preserved and used for single-family residential or other complementary uses.
  • Other areas will be home for up to 4,600 units of residential housing, a balanced mix of market rate, high-end housing, affordable housing, and housing for the formerly homeless or families at risk of homelessness.
  • Approximately would be set aside for green space. This would connect to the historic area to create a public-oriented Linear Park centerpiece that wraps around the entire property from the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority station on the north to the MARTA station on the south. Together with the residential districts, this green space would replace an area dominated by a golf course and include a space of approximately to be used for special events and festivals.
  • The Department of Defense transferred 10 acres of land and six buildings of Fort McPherson to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The Atlanta VA Fort McPherson campus provides services to the Atlanta veterans community such as the Fort McPherson VA Clinic, VA Domiciliary Residential Rehab Treatment Program, Healthcare for Homeless Veterans HCHV, Community Resource and Referral Center CRRC.
In August 2014, a plan to sell a large portion of McPherson to filmmaker Tyler Perry became public. State Senator Vincent Fort and residents called for more transparency.

Units

Installation Management Command, Southeast Region

The Installation Management Command, Southeast Region, is located in Building 171 at Fort McPherson and has the
function of managing Army installations in the southeastern United States and Puerto Rico. IMCOM-SE provides all base operations, public works and family support programs, ensuring the readiness of Soldiers, Families and military units. It has more than 15,000 employees across the southeast and manages a $2.2 billion annual operating budget.
The region is responsible for, delivering to standard, all facets of installation support, including care of Soldiers and Families; morale, welfare and recreation; education services, food and laundry; religious support; force protection; fire and emergency services; public works; environmental; residential housing; and execution of DoD base realignment.
The IMCOM-SE team includes Anniston Army Depot, Ala.; Blue Grass Army Depot, Ky.; Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico; Fort Campbell, Ky.; Fort Gordon, Ga.; Fort Jackson, S.C.; Fort Knox, Ky.; Fort McPherson, Ga.; Fort Novosel, Ala.; Fort Stewart, Ga.; Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Tenn.; Milan Army Ammunition Plant, Tenn.; Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant, Miss.; Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, N.C.; Redstone Arsenal, Ala.; and the U.S. Army Garrison, Miami, Fla.
The region supports the senior mission commander on each installation by relieving him or her of the requirement to oversee day-to-day garrison operations. The region exercises installation management, provides for public safety, provides for sound stewardship of resources, executes community and Family support services and programs and maintains and improves installation infrastructure.
IMCOM-SE is one of six regions under the Installation Management Command, which is headquartered at Arlington, Va. IMCOM was first organized as the Installation Management Agency in 2002. In 2006, IMCOM was activated as a three-star command that includes the former Installation Management Agency, the former Community and Family Support Center and the former Army Environmental Center under a single command as a direct reporting unit.