Airport to get new hangar
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 14, 2017 9:57 AM
MOUNT OLIVE -- The Mount Olive Town Board has awarded a $1,305,650 contract to Daniels and Daniels Construction Co. of Goldsboro for a 10,000-square-foot hangar at the town's airport.
The 100-foot-by-100-foot building will be constructed on property on the Old Mount Olive Highway side of the terminal and is scheduled for completion by late this year.
The $1,305,650 includes a base bid of $944,000 for the hangar, with the remainder for the offices and other peripherals.
"They have already kind of started now," Town Manager Charles Brown said. "It will be a big hangar and have some offices and conference room in there. It will accommodate up to private jet size (aircraft). It is a big hangar. They have got to engineer that metal building and all of the components have to be ordered for it. It takes some time to get the component for that building ready to go. They are doing something a little different.
"You have to have a big roll-up door so the planes can get in. In order to cut down the cost of the building itself, if that door is suspended from the building, the building specs have to be much more stringent and consequently, more expensive. So what they are doing is a free-standing door. In other words, the door comes with its own frame and then you kind of build the building around it. That way the door supports itself."
Project architects told the town it actually works better that way, Brown said.
The architects told the town they have several places were hurricanes or tornadoes have destroyed a hangar, but that the door was still standing.
"But it does cut cost on the project," he said. "We have several people interest in putting big planes here.
"So we think it (hangar) will entice them, and the fact that we have one of the best fixed-based operators and aircraft mechanics (Mike Bass) around. We think that will help entice additional business."
Currently a Vidant Transport helicopter and ground unit are based at the airport.
Brown said he is not sure if Vidant will move to the new hangar.
The unit is sharing space and does not have a firm place, Brown said. The hangar will open space to clear the way for Vidant to have its own hangar, he said.
To prepare for the project, trees were clear to make space for the power lines for the hangar.
Also, on April 4 Brown appeared before the Local Government Commission since the town will need a bridge loan to help pay for the project.
Anytime that the town borrows money, or enters into a contract of this nature, it has to be approved by the Local Government Commission and the state treasurer's office
"We have (federal) Vision 100 money to pay for the hangar, but it won't all come in time to pay for the hangar when it complete so we are getting a bridge loan of $432,306 to complete the construction on it," Brown said.
The airport receives $166,667 annually in Vision 100 funding from the Federal Aviation Administration. It is earmarked solely for the airport, Brown said.
The town has been banking that money since 2013 so when it comes down to putting the project together it will have banked a total of $812,418.
Also, the FAA is allowing the town to encumber anticipated Vision 100 funds for 2018 through 2020 toward the cost of the project.
That is the period that the $432,306 loan is needed to bridge, Brown said.
The loan from Southern Bank and Trust Co. will all be paid out through FAA funding over a 10-year period at $40,000 annually.
The Local Government Commission recommended the 10-year payback just to ensure the repayment could be paid should something go "haywire," Brown said.
"So no local tax money will be really involved in it except for annual match to the airport," he said. The airport has a $15 million economic impact on the area, supports 110 jobs and pays between $350,000 and $400,000 in local and state taxes, Brown said.
Fuel sales have quadrupled since Vidant stationed at the airport, he said.
"This (project) will allow that to continue," he said. "That airport now is very close to being self-sufficient. It wouldn't take very much more. A little increase in our av (aviation) gas sales and jet fuel sales -- that airport would be pretty much self-supporting on its own."
Initially the town had considered straightening the serpentine road leading to the airport.
"However, architects said that would remove room," he said. "In other words what they are saying is leaving that road like it is actually open up some room for hangars in that little dogleg.
"We are going to leave it as is. We have worked on the road. It is actually a state Department of Transportation road, but we have worked on it and fixed some potholes. So it is in better shape than it was."
The hangar is the latest in a series off projects over the past several years that have included removing trees around the airport and making improvements to the runway including extending it to 5,200 feet.
"Our airport is in a really good place right now. Financially, it is strong and this will just kind of be icing on the cake."