No offers made on Commander equipment

There has been international interest in equipment in the Commander Premier Aircraft Corp. hangar at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, but city officials have not received news of any formal offers.

According to minutes from the March 12 Cape Girardeau Airport Advisory Board meeting, "several tours have been conducted with different companies interested in purchasing the assets of Commander. One of the companies, a Chinese delegation, seemed to be more interested than the others and stated they have plans to make an offer to the bankruptcy trustee after the Chinese New Year."

The Chinese New Year was Feb. 10. City Manager Scott Meyer is the legal contact for the bankruptcy trustee, and he said there has not been any additional information from the Texas court handling the bankruptcy proceedings.

The court is trying to obtain the most it possibly can from the sale of the equipment on behalf of creditors in the case, Meyer said. Information shared about potential buyers is very limited.

"They play their cards very close to the chest," Meyer said.

Once a buyer is secured, the court will set a time frame to vacate or rent the space. Creditors will receive proceeds based on the court's order, and there is no time limit by which the court must act. The city has asked the court to move forward. Until the court settles the matter, the 52,000-square-foot hanger cannot be marketed to potential buyers.

The city sold $2.6 million in bonds in 2001 to construct the hangar and pay for extension of water and sewer lines to it. Small plane manufacturer Commander Premier contracted with the city for the space in 2005, with plans to employ up to 100 people. By December 2007 it stopped making payments on the hanger, never producing a single plane.

The city used $1.69 million from the purchase of property by Isle Casino Cape Girardeau to pay off the bonds in 2011. The tax-exempt bonds limited the use of the building to airport-related manufacturing and paying off the bonds freed the city to use the hangar for other aviation purposes.

Jason Searcy of Searcy & Searcy Attorneys in Longview, Texas, who is representing Commander Premier in bankruptcy court, was out of the office Friday and did not return messages left by phone and email.

Meetings of the Airport Advisory Board are open to the public. They are at 5 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month at the airport restaurant at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

salderman@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, Cape Girardeau, Mo.