Thursday, April 19, 2012
By George Nelson
VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Since his appointment to the Western Reserve Port Authority’s board of directors in 2004, Scott Lynn has wanted to see new T-hangars constructed at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport. At its meeting Wednesday, the port authority took a major step closer to making that a reality.
The board voted to take out a $470,000 loan to construct the first of three new T-hangars which will replace the existing ones at the airport. The 20-year loan will be provided by Farmers National Bank, Canfield, at 2.84% interest for the first five years and at an adjustable rate for the balance of the loan.
“At one of my first board meetings I was asked what I would like to see done and I said I would like to see some hangars built out here,” said Lynn, a pilot for now the port authority’s chairman.
Construction of the new hangar will take place in conjunction with a $1.1 million taxi lane project under way, said Dan Dickten, aviation director of the airport. Bids for the hangar will be in by the end of April and construction should be completed by the end of August, he said.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Dickten said. The airport already has 14 lease commitments for the new hangar, including 11 that are in the airport’s existing hangars or one of two community hangars. Moving the smaller aircraft into the new T-hangar will free space in the larger hangars for corporate aircraft. “Two are looking for space around the June time-frame and we expect additional corporate aircraft needing cover as a result of the Utica shale activity,” he said.
Dickten reported that the port authority’s request for funds through the state’s Job Ready Sites program to purchase the former Davis air cargo building had been rejected.
Kevin Kern, director of special projects at the airport, noted only about $10 million was available in this final round of Job Ready Sites funding and the state only accepted seven projects.
“We’re pursuing other options,” Dickten said. “We have some interested parties. There is a big initiative here for air cargo and we’re pursuing those options,” he said.
Lynn said the port authority would continue to search for a tenant for the building and it is making “a lot of progress” with one company. The building, located on airport property, is owned by the real estate arm of Millwood Inc.
“The company we’re looking at is somewhat interested in purchasing that building and lining up a couple of tenants to start moving freight in and out of there,” Lynn said.
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