Middletown, IA – More than 150 people turned out for the ribbon-cutting for the Armed Forces Readiness Center and the Field Maintenance Shop in Middletown.
The formal ceremony was held roughly one month after the facilities were actually opened for use.
They will house the Iowa Army National Guard's 831st Engineer Company and the U-S Army Reserve's 389th Engineer Company.
The maintenance shop will also be used to repair vehicles and equipment from other southeast Iowa units.
Colonel Scott Ayres says having modern facilities will greatly benefit local soldiers.
"The previous facilities were good buildings back in their days," says Ayres, "but it has been almost 80 years and for the modern soldier. They really needed a state-of-the-art facility."
The price tag for the readiness center and the machine shop was about $25-million dollars.
Des Moines-based Neumann Brothers built the Middletown structures along with facilities in Muscatine and Cedar Rapids, all at the same time.
The money for the projects came from the federal government.
The Base Closure and Realignment Commission recommended funding the Middletown facilities in 2005, but it was not until 2009 before the funding came through for the projects.
The Middletown facilities are a combined 82,000 square feet featuring offices, classrooms, storage areas for hazardous materials and maintenance bays.
They replace the Burlington Armory and the former Reserve Center in Middletown.
Ayres says Middletown and Burlington have the right of first refusal to acquire the buildings.
He does not know where that process is at this point.