Naval Air Station in Cobb to be handed over to Georgia National Guard

By Ralph Ellis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The sprawling Naval Air Station Atlanta in Cobb County changes hands Saturday morning.

In a formal ceremony inside a hangar, ownership will transfer to the Georgia National Guard. Gov. Sonny Perdue and other officials are expected to attend the ceremony, which is closed to the public.

The changeover is no surprise, having been announced back in 2005 by the Base Closure and Realignment Commission. Many Guard employees have already moved in. Navy Capt. Chuck Mingonet, commander of the naval air station, said the average person won’t see any difference.

“They’ll just notice there are no more Navy planes flying overhead” and a decrease in air traffic in general, Mingonet said.

Michael Hughes, the Cobb economic development director, said he hasn’t quantified the economic impact of the changeover.

“We understand they’ll be bringing some 1,500 soldiers to the property,” Hughes said. “We certainly anticipate that will have a positive impact on the area.”

The naval air station moved from Peachtree-DeKalb Airport to Cobb County in the late 1950s. Navy and Marine reservists trained at air station, which is next to Dobbins Air Reserve Base off Atlanta Road.

Two other changes happen Friday.

The facility will be renamed the Gen. Lucius D. Clay National Guard Center, in honor of the Cobb native who coordinated the Berlin Airlift.

And ground will be broken for a $29 million, 220,000-square-foot building that will become the headquarters for Georgia’s Army and Air National Guards, said Ken Baldowski, a Georgia National Guard spokesman.

“Ultimately, once the building is built, we’ll have close to 1,500 people working right here in the National Guard center,” Baldow-ski said. “We’re actually increasing the number of people who will be here.”

The center will be the home base for Georgia’s Army and Air National Guardsmen and Guardswomen. The headquarters had been on Confederate Avenue in Atlanta.

A number of National Guard recruiters will move from other parts of Georgia to Cobb County. The Atlanta area has become the state’s best place to recruit, Baldowski said.