b'HANGARSJKA77They started taking a look at a parcel on the airport that wasTo be honest, we finished the project and it sat vacant for just a stand of trees, Fletcher explains. It was all grown up, andsome time, Cole relates. there was a drainage ditch that ran through it.Fletcher also remembers the extended lull: When the parcel Despite its primitive condition, planners selected the 24-acrewas open after construction, this greenfield was ready to go for tract for a new corporate hangar complex. And in 2010, the FAAdevelopment. But at the time, the economy was recovering from Airports District Office in Jackson, MS, issued a $2.2 million grantthe big 2008-2009 downturn.for reconfiguring a taxiway to enable the project.In due time, private individuals began inquiring about Barge Design Solutions provided projectconstructing their own corporate-style hangars, sized for both management services for the taxiwaypiston and turboprop aircraft. By late 2011, the first lease on one infrastructure construction, with Seniorof the greenfield parcels was signed under Scott Fuller, airport Project Manager Michael Cole leadingmanager at the time.the process from inception and the earlyThen the leasing process picked up steam. It initially was environmental phase through design,a dribble, but it turned into a full stream, and it has been rapid grants administration and ultimately projectover the last two years, Cole recalls. There has been a lot of management.MICHAEL COLE development and a lot of interest out there.Cole, who also serves as JKAs airportAfter capturing the first lease signature in 2011, airport engineering consultant, credits the Gulf Shores Airport Authorityleadership worked to continue the trend. The Authority basically for having the foresight to realize its vacant land had thetook the viewpoint to make the lease process as streamlined as potential to be developed into prime real estateand for seekingpossible so that we would facilitate working with the city of Gulf outside engineering counsel to do so. The overgrown area wasShores on building permits and ensuring that development on duly added to the airports capital improvement plan, and thethat property would move forward, Fletcher explains. Airport Layout Plan was adjusted to highlight the area for future development. Fast forward to today, and there are 13 new hangars on parcels between .75 acre and 1 acre. Individual hangars range in Cole worked with the Jackson Airports District Office to plotsize from 8,000 to 14,000 square feet. Many were built by Ken the staged development. We didnt want to build hangars at theGates. time, he explains. We just wanted to provide the infrastructure for hangars, and that included providing the taxi lanes andAs folks started building, it generated interest, Cole says. It automobile ingress and egress.is like anything else. Once something starts going, other people get interested in it. It has kind of domino effect, and it is full now.In addition to clearing out the stand of trees, a drainage ditch that ran through the parcel was rerouted to convey stormwaterFletcher relates that once Gates built the first hangar, more efficiently around the airport. prospects started approaching him to build more.We put utilities out on the sitesanitary sewer, water and powerand then we did kind of a master plan, laying out varying sizes of hangars. In the end, the mixed-use development included corporate box hangars and T hangars ranging in size from 60 x 60 square feet to 100 x 100 square feet, with object free areaHelping airports unlock requirements for the new taxi lanetheir greatest potential.based on these hangar sizes. Hurry Up and WaitThe plans were sealed in 2010; construction started later that year and lasted about 200 days. Upon completion in 2011, however, a@cmtengrs | cmtengr.comlingering hangover from the Great Recession of 2008 continued to thwart Learn more demand for private and corporateabout what CMT hangar space. can do for you:AirportImprovement.comMay | June 2024'