Developers of nine airplane hangars at Grove Field say recent sales could trigger the start of the development’s next eight-hangar phase by this summer.
Five hangars built in phase one of the $1.6 million Immelman Hangar project at the Camas airstrip have now sold, said John Anderson, a retired United Airlines pilot and project co-developer with husband-and-wife partners Scott and Denise Price. The hangars each sold for about $122,000 apiece.
“Buyers have shown serious interest in the other four” hangars, Anderson said.
The sales have eased developers through a pocket of turbulence that nearly grounded the project, he said. “We fought a lot of battles, including some zoning issues and the down economy,” he added.
Anderson said the project’s next phase would add a second building with eight hangars next to the completed structure on the southeast side of the runway. A third and final phase would include room for eight more hangars.
Project developers secured a long-term lease for the site at Grove Field, which is owned and operated by the Port of Camas-Washougal.
“They are leasing 1 acre and they have an option to lease another adjacent acre,” said David Ripp, the port’s executive director.
He called the situation preferable to port ownership. Seventy-nine previously constructed hangars at Grove Field are owned by the port, which expends manpower and money to oversee the rented units.
With the Immelman project, “We’re generating revenue off the lease and not having to pay the capital to build the hangars,” Ripp said.
Located west of Northeast 267th Avenue in Fern Prairie, the Grove Field airstrip recently won approval by the Federal Aviation Administration for a $10 million safety project. However, the port’s three-member commission has not yet decided whether to accept the funding, which would come with a mandate to keep the airport operating for at least 20 years.
Cami Joner : 360-735-4532 or cami.joner@columbian.com.
