New company awarded King Airport lease for hangar

ST. THOMAS - A newly formed company said it plans to bring King Airport's general aviation space a new hangar and maintenance building within the next three years.

"General aviation is maxed out," Manuel Gutierrez Jr., a V.I. Port Authority Governing Board member, said Wednesday morning. "There are more clients coming and the maintenance building is in horrible shape."

At its monthly meeting Wednesday, the governing board voted to approve the request and lease for Standard Aviation, LLC to construct an aircraft hangar; to sublease a hangar and office space; and to conduct fixed based operations.

The development will require the company to invest $5 million dollars to put to use 26,000 square feet of semi-improved space, and rent will initially cost $1.50 per square foot for a total of $3,250 per month.

On the agreement's fifth anniversary and every five years, the rent will increase based on the consumer price index or 5 percent, depending on which is greater.

The Port Authority also would reap additional revenue from fuel services.

The hangar is slated to cost the investors $4 million and the maintenance building roughly $1.6 million, according to the request.

The estimated gross income of the facility over five years is $2.8 million, according to supporting documents.

However, the vote was taken after Acting Attorney General Claude Walker - who was participating in his first governing board meeting as a committee designee - amended the request to no longer include an option to extend the lease beyond 30 years.

The result of the amended request was one dissenting vote from governing board member Jose Penn.

Board Vice Chairman and Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty abstained from the vote, which passed on ayes from Walker, Gutierrez and Yvonne Thraen.

The Port Authority's long-term plan already included enlarging the existing general aviation hangar and renovating the maintenance building, according to Executive Director Carlton Dowe.

In October 2014, it released a request for proposals seeking a company to relocate the maintenance building to the Bournefield area and demolish the old building to construct a new hangar or expand the existing one, according to the request.

Two months later, the Port Authority canceled the request.

Earlier this year, Hairoun Aviation, an existing fixed base operator, met with the Port Authority to discuss similar renovations when Shaun Miller, Standard Aviation owner, and his team entered the conversation.

The project will displace three tenants, but the company "will work with them" to ensure their ability to operate, according to the request. The Port Authority would lose $39,000 in monthly rent from the existing tenants.

According to supporting documents he supplied, Miller also owns and operates St. Thomas-based UEI Services, a state-of-the-art technology manufacturing, assembly, test and shipping facility to supplying customers worldwide.

Its customer base includes the following industrial sectors: automotive, aerospace, petroleum/refining, simulation, semiconductor manufacturing, medical, HVAC and power generation, according to Miller.

Source:  http://virginislandsdailynews.com