Ramstein mega-mall opens for business - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Ramstein mega-mall opens for business

The new high-rise hotel and shopping mall complex is finally open at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

Three years late and millions of dollars over budget, the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center — KMCC or K-Town Mall for short — welcomed its first customers on July 2.

A three-phase opening will continue through the summer as finishing touches are put on the 844,000-square-foot complex and store employees stock shelves.

“The KMCC is truly an amazing complex … There is nothing like it in our military communities,” said Lt. Col. Dawn Lancaster, commander of Ramstein’s 435th Services Squadron.

The center includes an eight-story, 350-room hotel, parking for 2,800 cars, a four-screen movie theater, the largest base exchange in Europe, dozens of smaller stores and a host of eateries including Romano’s Macaroni Grill.

The complex is near Ramstein’s west gate and next to the airlift passenger terminal, a transit point for thousands of service members arriving monthly for assignments in Germany or traveling to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors accustomed to staying at visiting quarters in nondescript tan-and-brown buildings may think they’ve walked into a resort. After checking in, guests can wander into a 250-seat sports lounge or try out a two-story climbing wall.

When ground was broken in 2003, with a completion date estimated to be three years later, the complex had a price tag of $163 million. Construction problems and contract disputes slowed the project. Last year, the Government Accountability Office estimated the final price would exceed $214 million as repair bills, Air Force supervisory costs and dollar exchange rates were factored in.

The complex was the largest Defense Department construction project outside of the U.S. when work started on it.

KMCC was part of the effort to expand area shopping, restaurant and entertainment options and increase the number of hotel rooms available for service members and dependents using Ramstein’s passenger terminal, the primary hub for the U.S. military in western Europe since the closing of Rhein-Main Air Base near Frankfurt, Germany.

Air Force and investigators with the GAO blamed much of the delay and skyrocketing cost on the lack of control U.S. officials had over the German firms, hired and supervised by the German government.