Senior enlisted leaders and officers training at Camp Smith no longer have to bunk in outdated quarters. On Oct. 29, the New York National Guard officially opened Building 508A, a $3.5 million, 3,000-square-foot facility in Peekskill built to replace aging housing with single rooms, private latrines, a lounge, laundry and a break area.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Ray Shields opened the building, according to DVIDS, which reported that the facility was designed to be environmentally friendly while meeting modern hotel standards. It was built to qualify for LEED Silver certification, and it replaces aging quarters that had housed senior enlisted leaders and officers training at the post. Construction involved Woodard & Curran, Robert Marino Architects, Environmental Design & Research, M/E Engineering, Nasco Construction Services, Vinco Builders, Hudson Valley Construction Management and S&O Construction Services.
A Hotel-Grade Upgrade for Senior Leaders
Chad Clark said the building brings Camp Smith up to contemporary Army lodging standards, per the same DVIDS report. The facility provides hotel-style quarters for senior enlisted leaders, officers and enlisted soldiers, and it marks the first completed phase of a larger 75,000-square-foot modernization authorization for the post.
Shields said infrastructure investments send a supportive message to the state's Army National Guard soldiers, and that soldiers' views of their service are directly affected by modern workspaces and quarters. The New York Army National Guard counts more than 12,000 soldiers in its ranks, according to Shields.
More Housing and a Firing Range Already Planned
Planning work is already underway on a 24-unit housing complex behind Building 508A, which Camp Smith intends to build using federal funds. New York State covered 25 percent of the cost of Building 508A itself, Shields said, and the state will also fund a new firing range at the post.
Shields put the new facility in the context of a much larger pattern of state spending, saying New York has invested $493 million into military facilities, with $165 million funded directly by the state. He added that most National Guard units in the country do not get the level of fiscal support and support from their governor's office that New York's force receives. Shields met with Lt. Gen. Jonathan Stubbs, director of the Army National Guard, in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 28, the day before the Camp Smith opening.
Sharon Buck said the Office of General Services is proud to support the New York National Guard, and that projects like Building 508A advance Gov. Kathy Hochul's commitment to investing in the people and institutions that serve New York State.
Part of a Broader National Push on Guard Lodging
Shields previously described the effort as part of roughly $400 million spent or being spent on New York National Guard building upgrades. A 2025 report projected the Building 508A renovation would be finished in December 2026 and would house nine senior officers and enlisted leaders, a timeline the facility's October opening appears to have beaten.
New York isn't alone in modernizing Guard housing. The Louisiana National Guard recently cut the ribbon on a new Collective Training Barracks at Camp Minden, a 28,358-square-foot facility built for about $12.1 million that sleeps 168 soldiers, according to the Bossier Press-Tribune. On a much larger scale, the National Guard Bureau, the District of Columbia National Guard and the U.S. General Services Administration awarded a $292 million contract to Placemakr for up to 2,000 apartment-style lodging units supporting the Joint Task Force-District of Columbia mission, which Military Times described as the largest interagency lodging acquisition in the history of the Guard.
