REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Marines Offer Free Historic Houses

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Daily Real Estate News | January 24, 2006 | Marines Offer Free Historic Houses The Marine Corp Base at Quantico, Va., is giving away 58 prefabricated, porcelain-enameled steel, ranch-style houses with two or three bedrooms, originally erected nearly 60 years ago to provide homes for returning World War II soldiers. The homes are available to anyone who can demonstrate the ability to dismantle and move the 11-ton dwellings with their 3,300 parts and 4,000 nuts and bolts. This is the largest collection anywhere of homes known as Lustrons. Designed by Carl Standlund and manufactured assembly-line style, they are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Clark Realty Capital, the developer with a contract to build new base housing, agreed to find a way to reuse the housing as a part of the deal to win the contract. “Restoring a Lustron is like restoring an old Chevy. You buy it because it looks great on the outside, then you get under the hood, and you find out there’s lots of work to do,” says Calvin Strayer, a Toronto-based preservationist who specializes in moving old diners, which share a similar construction to Lustrons. To learn more about Lustrons and how to submit a bid, go to www.LustronsatQuantico.com. Applicants should expect to provide a plan, proof of financial ability to pay for the venture, and evidence that they’ve done something like this before. Deadline for proposals is April 12. —By Jennie Phipps for REALTOR® Magazine Online