May | June 2026      AirportImprovement.com
still had to meet strict grant requirements 
to collect its $27 million. 
Probably the toughest criterion was a 
high-stakes timeline that required projects 
to be substantially completed in two 
years from the date the grant was fully 
executed. “That means designed, bid and 
constructed,” Walters specifies. 
Bradford wasted no time creating the 
scope and design agreement. “Saratoga 
County received its grant in February 
2023,” he recalls. “The reason I remember 
that is that essentially, we got the entire 
project planned, designed and constructed 
in less than 30 months.” 
Saratoga County 
Board Chairman 
Phil Barrett notes 
that major local 
investments from 
companies such 
as Regeneron and 
GlobalFoundries 
emphasize the need 
for a modern airport to support rising 
business travel alongside other general 
aviation uses. State Transportation 
Department data indicates 5B2 generated 
over $9.7 million annually before the 
recently completed revitalization. “The 
airport is a key economic driver,” says 
Barrett, who expects further growth in the 
county from industry investments and use 
of the upgraded terminal and hangar.
Designed With Community 
in Mind
A team from Fennick McCredie toured 
the FBO and collaborated closely with 
its personnel to tailor the new terminal to 
the complete range of operations at 5B2. 
Designers also met regularly with county 
staff members to present ideas and gather 
feedback, aligning building plans with 
their goals.
“They wanted it 
to be accessible 
to everyone in the 
community, not just for 
pilots, passengers and 
aircraft owners,” says 
Lead Architect Scott 
Brodsky. “And that 
became one of the 
design challenges.  
“Every airport has two front doors: 
one on the landside and one airside,” he 
elaborates. “Creating inviting architecture 
on both of those sides created some 
challenges in developing the building’s 
geometry.” 
Architects created a boomerang shaped 
facility to reconcile angles of airside and 
landside facilities and respond to the 
county’s desire to have a welcoming 
public façade facing both of those entries. 
Geothermal and solar energy systems 
added green elements to the design. 
The orientation of the hangar and roof 
slopes provided a large open area for the 
photovoltaics installation, notes Brodsky. 
Barrett expects the restaurant and public 
meeting room inside the new terminal to 
help strengthen the airport’s role within 
the community as well as boost county 
revenue. “Local organizations can use the 
facility, and travelers and residents can 
partake at the restaurant,” he says. “That’s 
something we’ve never had before.”
Designers aligned the space so it has 
two sets of windows, one parallel to 
each axis of the runway. “We wound up 
rotating the whole building and moving the 
restaurant up to the second floor so that it 
has that view of the airfield,” Bradford adds.
Kelsey agrees that the restaurant is a 
nice amenity; but he’s more excited about 
the new 20,000-square-foot hangar. With 
92-foot-wide doors, each of its two bays 
can hold aircraft such as a Challenger 300 
or Challenger 650. Previously, some aircraft 
operators avoided landing at 5B2 during 
the winter because the airport doesn’t 
offer deicing services. “The environmental 
impact would be too great on our 
protected butterfly, the Karner Blue,” 
Kelsey explains. “But now we can offer 
parking inside the hangar to keep the ice 
and frost from forming.” 
Because the airport sits on federal- and 
state-protected land, all facilities have to 
be carefully designed to balance safety for 
users and sensitive wildlife. Approximately 
527 acres, including turf areas, are 
designated as a year-round protected 
habitat for the Karner Blue butterfly, which 
has been on the endangered list since 
1992. Most of the property can only be 
mowed once a year after Oct.15 to avoid 
disturbing the Blue Lupine plants the 
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Learn more at ejco.com/hatch
or call 800 626 4653
SCOTT BRODSKY
PHIL BARRETT

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