First homes in $130M development project open on JBLM
On Tuesday morning, Joint Base Lewis-McChord celebrated the opening of Meriwether Landing, a $130 million housing development project that will add more than 200 new homes at the base.
The ceremony comes more than a year after the site’s groundbreaking in March 2025. Liberty Military Housing, a privatized provider of military housing for 25 years, has led the construction efforts at JBLM. Out of the 212 expected homes, 16 units are ready for families, with the rest of the homes estimated to be ready for move-in by December 2027.
“When housing is predictable, responsive, and well cared for, it reduces stress at home, provides stability for families, and allows service members to stay focused on the mission,” Liberty CEO Philip Rizzo said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Rizzo spoke to a crowd of elected officials, military personnel and Liberty employees. Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Housing Adam Dontz, Commanding General of I Corps Matthew McFarland, Liberty regional vice president Beth Peterson, and U.S. Rep. Marilyn Strickland spoke alongside Rizzo celebrating the opening.
Alongside her four children, Ashley Morrissey joined the speakers in cutting the ribbon at the end of the speaking program. The Morrissey family will be the first family to move into the newly constructed homes on Friday, with more families moving in over the coming weeks. Stationed in Washington in 2006, the Morrissey family previously lived in Lacey and Yelm. Eventually, the family moved onto the base 10 years ago in the Beachwood neighborhood for an easier commute to work as well as closer proximity to the schools near the base.
“I’ve been a military spouse for 10 years, and I’ve seen a lot of funded programs come and go,” Morrissey told The News Tribune. “Spouses have lots of funding programs, but even those programs have been cut, or their funding has been significantly reduced, and I really appreciate the efforts that Liberty has made to have programs for families and spouses where spouses can get together and build community … .”
Morrissey emphasized that the new units are “significantly” larger than the previous housing at Beachwood. In particular, she was excited about the new kitchen and garage space, as well as air conditioning. According to senior construction manager Brian Brager, the homes range in size from 2,000 to 2,200 square feet. A majority of the homes are two-stories with four bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, with quartz countertops, wood-style window treatments and shaker-style cabinets. Brager demonstrated the soft-close drawers and doors, which made little to no noise upon closure. The units will house soldiers with ranks E7 to E9.
Strickland noted in her speech that the improvements in housing came up in the House Armed Services Committee’s Bipartisan Quality of Life Panel. She was appointed to the panel in 2023. At that time, the panel discovered that the main concerns among service members are housing, childcare and schools. The expansion of housing in JBLM, to Strickland, is a continuation of an effort to attract and retain soldiers.
“We are competing for talent. We are competing with our adversaries around the world,” Strickland said at the celebration. “So the quality of what we offer our families and those who serve has to be high quality because people have a lot of choices, and we want them to choose the military. We want them to stay in the military.”
At the same time, Liberty is leading a $107 million renovation project of approximately 1,000 homes in the New Hillside and Davis Hill neighborhoods. Those renovations will begin this summer and finish in 2028. The funding for the renovation project as well as the Meriwether Landing construction development come from Military Housing Privatization Initiative. Created in 1996 to improve the conditions of the Department of Defense’s housing inventory, the initiative allows member companies of the Military Housing Association to serve as housing providers.
“We all have different stories. The constant is that the community impacts the experience,” Liberty CEO Philip Rizzo said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We’re cultivating a community that is connected to and supportive of military families at the same time.”
JBLM has a waiting list of 67 families waiting for housing. Peterson shared over email that out of the 16 available at Meriwether Landing, 12 remain available.
