Concord, NC

http://www.independenttribune.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CIT%2FMGArticle%2FCIT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149189904767&path=!news

The Concord Regional Airport wants to add two new hangars.

http://www.ci.concord.nc.us/airport_0.asp

Tonight, Concord City Council will consider leasing airport property to two companies - S&D Coffee and BNW Properties - that will independently build their own hangars, both of which are said to be worth more than $1 million. The leases will be for 20 years, with an option of one five-year renewal. At the end of the lease, the hangar will become city property. S&D Coffee will lease its property for $391 per month and plans to build a hangar no smaller than 10,000 square feet. The hangar will also include parking for vehicles, offices, a lounge area and restrooms.

Dick Lewis, aviation director for the airport, said at a Tuesday City Council work session that S&D officials fly regularly all over the country. The move to a new, larger hangar will give S&D the ability to add aircraft, Lewis said, which would also boost the tax base of the airport. S&D is leasing its current hanger with Concord and can request an assignment of that lease to another company, which would be a City Council decision.
Lewis said S&D’s move to a new hangar will help create a “domino effect” in which the company’s current hangar opens up for another organization’s planes, and in turn, opens up more plane parking space at the airport. And more planes means more tax base, Lewis said.

At Tuesday’s work session, Lewis reported the airport has about $160 million in aircraft. BNW does some flying for race teams at the airport but has no hangar. The company’s move into a new hangar - leased for $315 per month and to be built no smaller than 6,400 square feet - will also open up space at the airport for new planes, which again increases the tax base, Lewis said.

Annette Privette, the city’s public information manager, said each of the hangars could be worth between $1.5 million-1.7 million. If approved, Lewis said, the companies must start building the hangars within six months, finishing construction one year after that time. Also, if the leases are approved tonight, only one lot for a corporate hangar will remain. “We’re almost built-out in hangar area,” Lewis told City Council.
And the grassy area south of the runway, known as the “salad bowl,” will be the next spot for hangar construction. To this end, and also at today’s meeting, City Council will consider authorizing city staff to undertake large hangar design for potential development for the south hangar area. “(The design work is) more of a marketing tool,” Lewis said. “We know what we want to do with it. We want to get a visual. I want to show the work we can market to our clients. Most people are visual.”
The city owns the site, and the study will detail what can be done to the area, which sits at a lower level topographically than the rest of the airport.
Assistant City Manager Jim Hipp said the study would also recognize the physical realities of the site and demonstrate how those realities can be tackled.
Lewis put it simply.
“We’ve got to bring in more dirt to fill it up.”