NewsJanuary 26, 2019
Officials hope hangar project picks up tailwind with private development concept
Cape Girardeau city officials hope to raze an 18-hangar structure at the airport and replace it with a 26-hangar building without spending any tax dollars. Jackson contractor Phil Penzel has proposed setting up a development company that would demolish the dilapidated, pole barn structure at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport and build and manage the new facility...
Cape Girardeau city officials hope to raze an 18-hangar structure at the airport and replace it with a 26-hangar building without spending any tax dollars.
Jackson contractor Phil Penzel has proposed setting up a development company that would demolish the dilapidated, pole barn structure at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport and build and manage the new facility.
The city and development company would enter into a ground-lease agreement, according to deputy city manager Molly Mehner.
She said the project could cost an estimated $1.4 million.
Under the plan, airplane owners would buy their hangar spaces and have ownership for 40 years. As with condo units, owners could sell their spaces or rent their units to others, Mehner said.
After 40 years, the city would own the hangar units unless a new agreement is signed, Mehner told the city council Tuesday.
Mehner said the hangar units could sell for about $50,000 per unit.
She said the city plans to send out letters to local owners of airplanes within the next few weeks to gauge their interest in buying hangar units.
The first 26 letters of interest received by the city would be time stamped. Those individuals, in order of when their letters were received, would have the first opportunities to buy a hangar unit or units, she said.
If there is little or no interest in purchasing units, “we may not have a project,” she told the council. “If there is an overwhelming response, we will consider constructing additional hangars,” Mehner said.
If there is not enough interest in buying hangar spaces, Penzel said “we would have to come back and regroup.”
But Penzel said Thursday airplane owners should embrace the plan because it will be more cost effective in the long run than having to pay rent.
“If people would do the math, it makes absolutely perfect sense,” he said.
City manager Scott Meyer said Friday the council would have to approve a written agreement with Penzel before the project could get underway.
Penzel said he views the public-private partnership as the first phase of a three-phase development to add hangar space at the airport.
“I think the avenue we are going is pretty unique,” said Penzel, who is president and CEO of Penzel Construction Co.
The company has constructed several buildings for the city, but none through the development method proposed for the hangar project.
Mehner said the city wants to proceed with the project by March 1.
Penzel and Mehner said the goal is to demolish the hangars before the air show May 18 and 19.
“We want to be very accommodating with the air show,” Penzel said. “We would love to get that eyesore out of the way.”
The space then would be available for parking for the air show, he said.
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After the air show, work could commence on constructing the new hangar units, Penzel said.
Mehner said the project could be completed before the end of summer.
The city sought proposals last year to replace the deteriorating hangar units.
Mehner said two proposals were received. City staff chose the Penzel proposal and began negotiating a deal.
Penzel, who owns an airplane himself, said the run-down hangars need to be replaced.
According to airport manager Bruce Loy, eight of the hangars were built in the 1960s and the rest date to the 1980s.
Loy told the Southeast Missourian last year only six of the hangars were leased. The others are in such poor condition they cannot be leased, Loyd said.
Mehner told the council only six of the 18 hangar doors are operable right now.
“It has been an ongoing maintenance issue and quite frankly an eyesore,” she said.
Penzel said, “This was a problem that needed a solution.”
The plan, he said, solves the problem “without costing the public anything.”
Several airport board members attended Tuesday’s council meeting to hear Mehner outline the plan.
Mehner said Friday airport board members were aware the city and Penzel were negotiating a deal, but were not aware of the details before the council meeting.
Council members welcomed the plan.
Mayor Bob Fox said, “I think there is a great need for this.”
The hangar project would provide space to store single-engine aircraft.
But Ward 4 Councilman Robbie Guard said the city also needs to develop hangar space for larger aircraft.
Mehner said the proposed project is the first step in addressing hangar needs at the airport. The next step could involve constructing new “corporate” hangars for larger private planes, she told the council.
The spacious, former Commander aircraft hangar now serves as storage space for some aircraft. Loy said last year about 20 tenants park their planes in that building.
But if a business ever purchases that structure, airplane owners will have to move their aircraft to other hangars, city officials said.
Mehner said some of those tenants may relocate their planes regardless of what happens with the Commander building.
They hopefully will move their aircraft into the new hangar units if they are built, she said.
mbliss@semissourian.com
(573) 388-3641
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