The Regional Government of the Azores plans to launch “in the first half of 2024” the bidding process for rehabilitating 92 houses in the old American neighborhoods next to the Lajes Base. “In the next few days, we expect to launch the procedure for the execution projects for this contract and launch the rehabilitation contract in the first half of 2024,” said the vice president of the Azorean executive, Artur Lima, adding that the work should be completed “by December 2025”.
The two neighborhoods with around 450 houses and the nearly 5,200 square meters school were ceded to the region in 2018 following the US military reduction at Lajes Base. In 2019, the Legislative Assembly approved a recommendation from the BE for the executive to include part of the housing in the social housing responses and in the cost-controlled rental market.
According to Artur Lima, the work that will now be launched “has nothing to do with the Left Bloc’s proposal,” the houses will be rented out with an option to buy. The Regional Government vice-president said that the executive, who took office in 2020, inherited housing that had not yet been registered.
“They didn’t even have security. They allowed the entire Beira-Mar neighborhood to be destroyed, vandalized, and robbed. What remains to be done is to legally register it, make the subdivision, and then register it in the name of the Autonomous Region of the Azores,” he said, stressing that the process is “time-consuming.”
It took “two years” to complete the registration process for the 92 three- and four-bedroom homes that will be rehabilitated.
The work is budgeted at 5 million euros but financed entirely by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) funds.
This involves not only the maintenance of the buildings but also the adaptation to energy efficiency and the transformation of the water and electricity systems, which were the same as those used in the USA.
The municipality of Praia da Vitória has already started the essential sanitation work, which will cost 1 million euros.
As for the remaining houses in the “Nascer do Sol” and “Beira-Mar” neighborhoods, Artur Lima said that they will be rehabilitated in a second phase. Still, part of them will be used to attract qualified workers to Terceira.

“The former American school is a complex with very good infrastructure that will eventually be used for projects to attract people in the field of science and technology,” he said.
The previous executive, who launched the Terceira Tech Island project in 2017, planned to set up a hub for IT companies in the old school and restore the houses to house programmers linked to the project.
Recently, the president of Angra do Heroísmo Chamber of Commerce, Marcos Couto, announced that the business association would now manage Terceira Tech Island and intended to use the old infrastructures to set up companies and a business school.

in Diário Insular, José Lourenço-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno.