The conference is expected to draw at least 1,000 people,Markham says. "There will certainly be references throughout thesessions to the baseclosings," Markham tells GlobeSt.com. "We will have tours ofLowry and of Fitzsimons (a former Army Hospital in Aurora beingconverted to a multi-billion hospital, medical research andteaching, and bio-tech center.) Lowry and Fitzsimons are consideredleaders in base redevelopments."

Although Lowry is being developed into a $1 billion-plusmixed-use community, where people, live, work and recreate, itstill has about 3,100 jobs associated with the military. Althoughthe Air Reserve Personnel Center on the Lowry campus will mostly betransferred to the Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Markhamthinks Lowry will show a net gain of 53 civilian jobs when it isall said and done. And, of course, Fort Carson in Colorado Springs,will be the big gainer for the state, with almost 5,000newtroops.

Cities that are seeing bases closed will have their work cut outfor them, Markham tells GlobeSt.com, referring to the nationalscope of closings and realignments. For a community, a base closureis more than a real estate transaction, he says. It's about people,their jobs and their way of life. Even communities that are seeinghuge job gains will have problems, he notes. "An example is FortBliss in El Paso, Texas," he says. "It's going to get a total gainof 11,500 personnel and the pressure is on the schools and housingwill be a unique problem to deal with."