Airport projects set to take off

Journal of Business, Apr 09, 1998

The Spokane Airport Board expects work to begin this year on an estimated $75 million in new and previously planned construction projects at both Spokane International Airport and the nearby Spokane International Airport Business Park.

John Morrison, who manages both facilities for the Airport Board, says the projects could help spark long-awaited growth in the surrounding West Plains area.

"I expect an explosion in the next three to five years out here," he says. In a step that will help clear the way for even more development in the airport business park, Fairchild Air Force Base will tear down or move about 40 unoccupied buildings from a 30-acre area that the U.S. Air Force currently leases. After that property has been cleared, the Airport Board plans to begin developing a campus-type office park there, although that could be some time off.

Although Morrison doesn't have precise values on all of the projects that could get started this year, he estimates their total value at close to $75 million.

Many of the projects have been in various planning stages for years, but others, including construction of the airport business park's first speculative building, only recently began to take shape.

All of the projects will be built on land owned jointly by Spokane County and the city of Spokane that is administered by the Airport Board. In addition to the 4,700--are Spokane International Airport and the 660-acre airport business park, the board oversees 440-acre Felts Field, in East Spokane.

Airport business park

The airport business par, which currently includes 1 buildings in addition to the unoccupied structures leased to the Air Force, is located south and east of the airport's main terminal. The projects expected to get under way in the business par this ear include:

* Construction of a previously announced 362,000-square-foot mail processing-and-distribution center for the U.S. Postal Service. Earlier this week, the Postal Service's Board of Governors approved $41 million in capital funding for the project, which should be launched this summer and completed by late 1999 or early 2000. The center is to occupy a 31-acre site on the north side of the park, just east of the airport.

* Construction of a $2 million speculative building with 15,000 to 20,000 square feet ot floor space, on a site south of where the new mail center is to be built. The Airport Board is seeking to persuade a developer both to develop that building and to cover the cost of the structure. It is negotiating with developers who would like to lease the building to a distribution or manufacturing tenant, Morrison says.

If the negotiations go smoothly and financing can be arranged, work could begin in late summer or early fall on the speculative building, Morrison says. The structure would give the Airport Board a buildings to show businesses that are interested in locating in the park.

"People like to kick bricks, and we don't have any bricks to kick out here," he says.

* Construction of about $5 million in infrastructure improvements, including the building of a new road through the park and the rebuilding of three older roads there.

The infrastructure improvements are to be completed over a several-year period. Morrison says the first phase of that work, which is to begin this fall or next spring, would include construction of a new, four-lane road through the northern half of the park. That road, which probably will be called Flight Line Boulevard, would stretch from Geiger Boulevard to the airport's flight line--and provide access between the flight line and the planned postal center.

In addition to the new road, water and sewer lines are to be put in throughout that northern area of the park, which includes the 30-acre parcel the Air Force now leases. Morrison says initial plans are to build the proposed campus-type office park there, though that project hasn't been solidified yet. He adds that airport officials also would want to preserve the wooded nature of the vicinity, even if the park were built. The Air Force has the 30-acre property under lease for three more years, and airport officials don't know when the military service will raze the 40 buildings.

The first part of the road and sewer work is to be completed by September 1999. The three roads that are to be rebuilt later are Godfrey Road, Spotted Road, and Will D. Alton Lane.

* Construction of a 6,700-square-foot building at the northwest corner of Geiser and Will D. Alton Lane. The Postal Service has leased the site from the Airport Board, and site work for the new post office already has begun. The branch, which will be called the Sunset Hill station, is expected to be completed later this year, though no contractor has been named yet.

Separately, the Airport Board is talking with a company that's interested in building an 80,000-square-foot structure in the business park that could be expanded later by 20,000 square feet. That building probably would be located near the proposed speculative building, but likely won't go up this year.