May 13--FORT DRUM -- The post's hotel lodging now will be run completely privately, as a part of the formal transition across the Army.

The post was a part of the third and final group of installations to make the transition, with the formal changeover approved May 1. The phase is worth approximately $465 million and covers 18 installations across the country, including Fort Drum.

The post's lodgings, including the post's Inn, on Po Valley Road, which has 111 rooms, and 150 rooms from World War II bachelor-officer quarters on the southern side of post, will be owned by Rest Easy LLC, a partnership created by the Army and Lend Lease, the company that has developed Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes.

Other projects to be undertaken include the creation of a 171-room Candlewood Suites, with construction scheduled to run from July 2014 until May 2016.

Rebranding of the Inn as a Holiday Inn Express will go from August 2014 until March 2015.

The planned destruction of the World War II-era rooms will coincide with the completion of the Candlewood Suites project.

James W. Corriveau, the post's director of public works, said in an email that as a part of the privatization effort, the post recently leveled seven of the World War II-era officer quarters buildings as a part of a contract for the clearance of 169 buildings from that era. Two more of the buildings are expected to be taken down soon as a part of a separate clearance contract.

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