BX food court to welcome two new additions

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- In the near future Burger King and Anthony's Pizza will be moving to the BX, where they will join Taco Bell and Baskin Robbins to form the consolidated food court. 

Soon the Incirlik community will be able to eat their Burger King whoppers and Baskin Robbins milk shakes in the same building. Although still in the planning stage, the project to move both Burger King and Anthony's Pizza from Building 957 to the Base Exchange area has already begun. 

The idea of transferring Burger King and Anthony's Pizza has been in place since September 2005. The transfer has been accelerated and prioritized after being targeted as a quality of life project. 

"The 39th Civil Engineer Squadron management engineering and planning section hopes by moving all related retail services in distinct regional areas, Incirlik will experience more of a community feel," said Scott Cornelius, 39th CES city community planner. "By moving all eating facilities, not only will resources be used more efficiently, more people will be able to walk to the eating facility of their choice." 

Col. "Tip" Stinnette, 39th Air Base Wing commander, met with Steve Hills, AAFES general manager here, in January to talk about improvements to the AAFES quality of service within Incirlik's theme of "quality of life." One of the ideas they came up with was moving Burger King and Anthony's Pizza over to the main shopping center where there is available parking and the base community can easily come in, choose from a variety of restaurants, eat, and then shop in a modern, air-conditioned building. 

"This is a good thing for the Incirlik community," said Colonel Stinnette. "The security forces members who live next to Burger King will have to walk a little farther, but the food court consolidation makes more sense for the broader community." 

"We're always trying to improve the quality of life here," added Mr. Hills. 

After the project was approved, Mr. Hills asked AAFES engineers in Germany to provide a proposed layout of the new BX food court. Using the proposed layout as a starting point, the Incirlik VBR design team of architects, mechanical, electrical, and civil engineers worked together to ensure the new additions to the BX are safe, practical, and done efficiently. After the design team makes their preliminary drawings and the cost is estimated, the project will be handed to the Saber team. The Saber team also works with the civil engineer squadron, but has prearranged contracts so the project will move quickly. 

Funding is currently being planned and negotiated with the help of Captains Michael Freeman and Gregory Hammond of the 39th CES. Because this project is being started at the end of the fiscal year and the amount of money available is unclear, the project may be done in two segments: the movement of Burger King and then Anthony's Pizza. 

"The reason this (project) was accelerated was to give Colonel Stinnette a chance to execute his vision while he still has money available," said Captain Hammond. "There just isn't a lot of money available in this arena next year." 

With the latest and greatest stateside equipment and décor, the Burger King and Anthony's Pizza promise to bring a little sophistication to the Incirlik shopping center.
Engineers are also working with AAFES to eventually bring a Subway here.
(Editor's note: Rachel Rhinehart was a 39th Civil Engineer VBR summer hire and is a student at Incirlik American Schools.)