The Marines are known for their ability to be destructive, and Col. Brian Annichiarico was happy to oblige Monday when it came to ceremoniously tearing down some of the last of Kaneohe Bay’s dilapidated family housing.

Annichiarico, the base commander and a Harrier jump-jet pilot, got to wield a big excavator and tear into the roof and walls of a 1976-era townhouse in the Ulu­­pau neighborhood.

The demolition is a milestone in a 10-year, more than $1.7 billion project by Forest City Military Communities to build 3,085 new and renovated Navy and Marine Corps family homes in Hawaii under a public-private partnership law passed by Congress in 1996.

The project, which started in 2004, helped buoy the construction industry in Hawaii when the recession hit and has added new homes faster than the Defense Department ever could have built them. At its peak the project employed about 1,200 workers, officials said.

Ulupau is the last of the Navy and Marine Corps neighborhoods to be demolished, and the 218 new homes to be finished by next April — with more square footage, energy-efficient appliances and other upgrades — represent the end of the big construction project for Forest City. New homes for Navy personnel were previously completed.

"It means a lot to the Marines and their families to have safe, warm, efficient, great places to live," Annichiarico said during a brief ceremony before climbing into the excavator.

Navy Capt. Jeff James, commander of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, recalled being stationed in Hawaii in the 1990s and contrasted the "slums that the sailors had to live in" with the "world-class housing that they have now."

Faye Wells, who used to live in the housing that’s being torn down, attested to the improvement.

"It’s new — it makes a huge difference," said Wells, who since February has been in a new home nearby. "We got rid of the rats. There was quite a rat problem by the other one."

Cabinet doors were falling off in the two-bedroom, one-bath unit that she; her husband, a 31-year-old sergeant; and 2-year-old son previously lived in. The new house is three bedrooms and has 2 1/2 baths and a fenced yard.

"It’s definitely been an upgrade," said Wells, who’s expecting another child. "It’s awesome."

Will Boudra, vice president of development for Forest City, said the smallest house being built now has three bedrooms. The new homes are bigger, have Corian countertops and tile floors, and central air conditioning.

Congress established the Military Housing Privatization Initiative in 1996 to attract private-sector financing and expertise to provide housing faster than traditional military construction processes would allow, the Pentagon said.

Ohio-based Forest City manages more than 6,300 Navy and Marine Corps homes in 36 neighborhoods on Oahu and Kauai. Military members pay their housing allowance to Forest City as rent under the 50-year partnership signed in 2004.

Boudra said Forest City is heading into the long-term "asset management phase, where you are constantly reinvesting in the neighborhoods, and we are building up significant revenues every year for that effort."

Australian-based Lend Lease, meanwhile, has a more than $1.8 billion agreement to build, renovate and manage 7,756 Army homes and 1,356 Air Force homes in Hawaii.