T-hangar construction

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phrogs4ever

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phrogs4ever
Howdy, new airport manager here at a medium size municipal airport.

The airport is in a location where it's really windy in the winter (routinely in the 60s mph). We have a ton of tiedown spaces that fill up in the summer but are about half abandoned in the winter for the wind and snow. There are some t-hangars here, but (maybe) not nearly enough for the demand.

I'm looking into building some t-hangars or some other type of shelter that faces out of the winter prevailing winds that take up some existing tiedown space and shelter some more tiedown space. These buildings could be funded by federal funds and the lease fees would go to the airport.

I might also be able open the area up to private development (of t-hangars only). There is a demand for them, but always a balking at the price of them. The latest batch of t-hangars stood vacant for nearly a year, then the waiting list was 3 deep....almost overnight.

I'm also opening this discussion up to the users of the airport...getting a pretty decent reception to the idea, though I am (and others are) skeptical when the govt offers a service and starts competing with private enterprise...I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

What say you, fellow aviation enthusiasts? Any out of the box ideas?

Thanks in advance for your input....
 
Which airport? Lease term and fees?
 
Fellow Airport Manager here -

How far into this have you dug so far? I only ask, because there’s a lot of variables to this. I will say, hangar shortages are widespread across the country. At the AAAE Conference in Spokane last year, our round table discussions led to many conversations about this and it’s a problem that Airport Management is dealing with everywhere.
phrogs4ever said:
I am (and others are) skeptical when the govt offers a service and starts competing with private enterprise...I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
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No need to be. Public - Private partnerships are largely the way of the industry right now and they aren’t competing with private enterprise. It’s simply a way for the FAA and State Aeronautics Department to fund these projects, with less capital, but hangar construction is generally pretty low on the priority ranking list, at least here in TN.

How do these hangars fit into your ALP and are they already on your CIP list? Are you able to put permanent structures in this location from an airfield design standard perspective? The fastest way to completion is through private funding or going the ground lease route, which produces the least revenue.
 
phrogs4ever said:
Howdy, new airport manager here at a medium size municipal airport.
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Which airport? I will say that construction prices are at an all time high and lead time on steel is still 5+ months. We ordered our steel in December and were told it would arrive in April/May. Happy to share my experience and any comps if you'd like to jump on a call.
 
We recently constructed a bank of 10 Erect-a-Tube hangars for about $1.3M + engineering fees on a shovel ready site. Without massive grant support, it is hard to amortize the investment in T-Hangars in most parts of the country, despite what I feel is near record demand. Not too many pilots itching to lay $500 a month to shelter their Cessna.

As a municipal airport, you are already providing a device to your community, and providing hangars that produce revenue to keep the airport functioning is important. I would not be too bothered worrying about competing with private interests in that market. There isn't much competition because as I noted above, there isn't much return on investment.
 
Or make T hangars that hold light jets and multi’s? 1.3m for 10 is not cheap. That’s 130k each. My hangar was a fraction of that cost.
 
Not sure what the cost of T-hangars are now. But an airport nearby just put up 20 T-hangars (bathrooms on the end). I believe it ran north of 2M. I think it can only work in a larger bulk type of arrangement as leasing it out for individuals to build T-hangars (land lease) would be downright ugly as the prices for hangars has more than doubled from just a few years ago. I believe a 60x60 is over 300K now without much finishing at all.
 
Local field had 3 rows of 16 t-hangars per row. Plus the two corner pieces.

Enough interest, they just built another one.

Hangar rents are not cheap, but they do have some slots. And are ready to build 3 more rows as interest increases.

People were paying $550 per month. Rent went up to $575 for existing occupancy, $650 for new.

But the fees make for a nice airport, with good services, and plans for the future.
 
mandm said:
Or make T hangars that hold light jets and multi’s? 1.3m for 10 is not cheap. That’s 130k each. My hangar was a fraction of that cost.
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The bank of 8 T's we're building are $135K each, so that's in line with your numbers. They will have electric bi-fold doors which would account for the extra expense. Site work is done. Just waiting on the steel...
 
@RyanB, @midwestpa24 and others, thank you for your insight.

This is in the early stages, more like an idea from the new guy that hasn't been proposed at this airport yet...I'll need support from the municipality as well as from the users at the airport, and the Friendly Aviation Association. I'm really lucky to have a great group of folks here that support the airport, so I can also rely on them for some good feedback.

The airport's consultants will need to put together a coherent plan, and with the blessing of the FAA, we'll get it added to the CIP. There isn't much point to adding any more projects to the CIP that aren't going to get done (we've got enough of them).

As for the ALP, the idea would be to build them over existing tiedowns...more than half are vacant over the winter anyway. We can still keep plenty of tiedowns for summer use, but a better use of the space might be t-hangars.

I'm going to stay anonymous for the moment...I'd like to speak to my people here. I really appreciate everyone listening and giving some feedback. Thank you!!
 
Just pay attention to the fine print of the government grant. My airport purchased all the steel and had the sites graded but now the project has been idle for the last 6 months. The grant requires that a DOT approved contractor construct the hangars. They are having difficulty finding contractors that both want, or have the time to do it. The older hangars like mine rent for 295/month, the new ones which have bifold doors, epoxy floors, better lighting, and slightly bigger are going for 500/month. They had no problem filling them and we still have a wait list even if it's small by current standards.

On the other hand my old airport decided to run power and grade land for private hangars built on land lease. To my knowledge there have been no takers on the piston side of the airport. There are a couple corporate hangars being built to house jets and I've heard there is still demand for more so the county is trying to purchase more land for the airport. A single jet brings in more revenue than an entire hangar row of piston planes so I can't really blame them.
 
Flocker said:
That's a deal. I know of some places in Colorado that lease t-hangars at $1,500/M.
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Yikes! Here in CT I'm paying $225 to share a 60x60 hangar with 3 other planes. T-hangars are I think $250 or $270. 4 miles away across the river I think it's $350. There's a waiting list at both locations.
 
Grum.Man said:
Just pay attention to the fine print of the government grant. My airport purchased all the steel and had the sites graded but now the project has been idle for the last 6 months. The grant requires that a DOT approved contractor construct the hangars.
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That’s standard procedure. The projects have to go for public bid and the bidder has to meet a variety of criteria to be selected. This last project we did had a lot of interest, but only a couple bidders met the requirements. Did the municipality purchase the materials and do the site prep on their own dime? If so, why? Seems like an odd situation to run into.
 
phrogs4ever said:
This is in the early stages, more like an idea from the new guy that hasn't been proposed at this airport yet..
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I’d be surprised if this was the first time the idea has been presented. ;)
phrogs4ever said:
I'm really lucky to have a great group of folks here that support the airport, so I can also rely on them for some good feedback.
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Same here. It makes a big difference to have eager and enthusiastic folks to help support you as you navigate the new role.
phrogs4ever said:
The airport's consultants will need to put together a coherent plan, and with the blessing of the FAA, we'll get it added to the CIP. There isn't much point to adding any more projects to the CIP that aren't going to get done (we've got enough of them).
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The CIP is more or less a big wishlist. Be excited when you execute everything on it for the fiscal year, but don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t. The speed of government doesn’t move very quick and it’s beyond your control.
phrogs4ever said:
As for the ALP, the idea would be to build them over existing tiedowns...more than half are vacant over the winter anyway. We can still keep plenty of tiedowns for summer use, but a better use of the space might be t-hangars.
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Just make sure that you can place a permanent structure in that location. Of course your consulting engineers will determine that. Depending on what category your airport is classified under (B-I, B-II etc.,) will determine the design standards to adhere to, in terms of taxiway requirements, OFZ, etc.
 
Dana said:
Yikes! Here in CT I'm paying $225 to share a 60x60 hangar with 3 other planes. T-hangars are I think $250 or $270. 4 miles away across the river I think it's $350. There's a waiting list at both locations.
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And then people wonder why the FBO can't make ends meet.
 
Pinecone said:
And then people wonder why the FBO can't make ends meet.
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In these cases the hangars are rented directly by the airport. Across the river the hangars and occasional parking fee are the airport's only revenue and it has new owners so it's not a case of "the rent is cheap because the land is long paid for," so presumably they're at least breaking even. My home field is owned by Whelen and they want their business to be on an airport so they bought the field when it was for sale some years back. As such they may subsidize it to some extent, but it's well maintained by the same crew that maintains the grounds around their plant.
 
There is a (small) light at the end of the tunnel. There are funds earmarked for airports in the FAA Reauthorization Act (as currently written) that when disbursed are required to be used on hangar development. Smaller hangars only. i.e. <5,000 SF +/-. AOPA pushed hard for this. I had a meeting with them at Oshkosh last year discussing it. If passed, as written, this could help with the hangar availability issue.
 
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