Springfield-Branson National Airport Director of Aviation Brian Weiler says the airport is in need of additional hanger space and a redesign of the entrance to its former terminal, and now there are plans in place to get both.
Weiler unveiled plans for improvements to the east side of the airport that are expected to cost in excess of $5 million at the State of the Airport address, held yesterday at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.
“This is a very important part of the airport. It is literally our front door to the business community,” Weiler said in his address.
SGF's 25 general aviation hangars are currently full, according to Weiler, and there is now a need to prepare space for future hangar investments.
“The last thing I want to say to Jim Anderson or Ryan Mooney when they bring a prospect here that comes in on a corporate aircraft is, ‘I don’t have any hangar space for you to build, or come back in a year-and-a-half,’” Weiler said.
He said the airport applied for and received approval for a grant last fall from the Missouri Department of Transportation to redesign the entryway to the old terminal – now home to some 800 Expedia employees – and prepare space for seven new hangars through MoDOT’s State Aviation Trust Fund. The grant funds were slated to come to the airport in the 2016 fiscal year, but Weiler said SGF applied in January to receive the funds sooner and the airport was granted preliminary approval this month.
The trust fund, which is designed to help fund infrastructure improvements at airports across the state, is supported by a state sales tax on jet fuel.
He said while the grant isn’t guaranteed, funding looks favorable, according to MoDOT, and the airport has been given the green light to bid the project. He said construction could begin as soon as August and wrap up by early 2014.
SGF spokesman Kent Boyd said renovations in front of the former terminal would redesign the parking area to make it more accessible. The airport opened its new $117 million midfield terminal on the south side of its property in May 2009, allowing the former terminal on West Kearney to be available for lease. In March 2010, Bellevue, Wash.-based Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) signed a five-year lease to occupy the former terminal. Boyd said to receive the state funding on improvements, SGF has agreed to cover 10 percent of the cost of renovations.
In addition, Weiler said the SGF board has approved pulling $250,000 out of the airport’s capital reserve fund to remodel its 23-year-old general aviation terminal.
“We’re not tearing down walls or anything, we’re just making it more pleasing,” Weiler said.
The facelift includes pulling up and replacing floor tiles, new paint, and fixing and replacing creaking doors, he said. Olsson Associates Inc. will manage engineering services and Buxton Kubik Dodd Creative will handle interior design on the project, according to Weiler.
He said work should begin in May and take six months to complete.[[In-content Ad]]
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