Colorado airports future up in the air

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Future up in the air
Airport's sale would mean closure, redevelopment
By KIRSTEN ORSINI-MEINHARD 
The Coloradoan


Thoughts of closing the Fort Collins Downtown Airport evoke several feelings
in Gerald Gates: Panic, fear and betrayal are among them.

Gates, one of about 75 business owners, airport employees and aircraft
owners trying to save the airport, owns The Pilot Center, a flight-training
school that has taught upwards of 1,000 people to fly since it opened in
1986.

He also runs Bob Gates Aircraft Maintenance Inc., a business his father
started in the mid-1970s. Both businesses are located adjacent to the
airport and depend on it for survival.

If the airport closes in three years as planned, Gates isn't sure what will
happen to his businesses or the 1.5 acres of land he owns.

"I would like to see the airport remain an airport," said Gates. "I think
the community could use it."

Denver developer Lloyd Goff, who has a contract to buy the airport, plans to
turn the land into a commercial, residential and industrial development that
would include a research and development park.

The airport, on about 135 acres of land on the east Mulberry corridor, is
owned by a group of about 35 investors. The majority owner, Claire McMillen,
died in early April after his plane crashed taking off from the airport.

McMillen was trying to sell the airport because it isn't profitable, and he
saw an opportunity for development because of the rapid growth along the
Mulberry corridor.

But Gates and other members of the Save the Airport group say the economic
loss to Larimer County is greater than most city officials and residents
realize.

The airport and nearby businesses employ about 240 people who collectively
earn about $4 million a year, according to a 2003 survey on the economic
impact of Colorado airports by the Colorado Department of Transportation
Aeronautics Division.

Over the course of a year, the Fort Collins Downtown Airport has an economic
impact of $10.7 million, based on the number of people employed at the
airport and nearby businesses, operating costs, visitor spending, spending
in the community and other factors.

By comparison, the Fort Collins-Loveland Airport, located just west of
Interstate 25 near Loveland, has an impact of about $37.1 million. The
airport and surrounding businesses employ 619 people.

The Fort Collins Downtown Airport is also one of the few privately owned
airports in Colorado that allows public use, said Chris Pomeroy, senior
aviation planner for the CDOT division of aeronautics. Of the state's nearly
400 airports, 78 are open for public use.

"It's not only jobs that are provided by the airport, but those dollars spin
off into the hotels and restaurants in an area," said Pomeroy. "It helps to
minimize some of the capacity issues at the Fort Collins-Loveland Airport."

Despite the airport's unprofitable status, members of the Save the Airport
group believe it's an asset to the community, said Kelly Rizley, who leads
the group.

Rizley bought a hangar at the airport several years ago to house a Cessna
172. Residents who own hangars typically paid between $10,000 and $15,000 to
purchase the space and will lose that investment when the airport closes,
said Rizley.

Members of the Save the Airport group realize that if Goff buys the airport,
they have no control over the land. They're trying to come up with an
alternative to the airport sale that would allow members of the group to run
the facility using federal funds, said Rizley. To obtain the federal funds,
the group would need to get Larimer County on board as a government sponsor.

"We believe that the airport can be run and maintained on at least a
break-even status," said Rizley. "It's really not so much a profit center
but a service area."

Meanwhile, Goff said he's close to closing on the land and is talking to
national developers about investing in his project.

He said he offered members of the Save the Airport group an opportunity to
buy the airport about a year ago, just as he was putting the land under
contract. He waited about two months but never received an offer.

At that time, the group had just formed and didn't have enough organization
or funding to buy the land, said Rizley. Now, it might be too late.

"I don't think there's any possibility that I'm not going to close," said
Goff. "Unless the economy went into a tailspin in the next few months."

Shareholders of the airport voted to close it and are moving forward with
plans for re-development, said Loren Maxey, vice president and board member
of the Community Airpark Association, to which all shareholders belong.

While the airport has some economic impact, so will the development that
takes its place, he said.

"It's not like the airport is closing and that's it," Maxey said. "The
airport is closing and something will replace it."

Open since 1966, the Fort Collins Downtown Airport is a Larimer County
mainstay, which is one of the reasons it's so hard to give up, said Kathay
Rennels, a Larimer County commissioner.

Still, the east Mulberry corridor is growing and eventually it would become
harder for the airport to operate where it is.

"The problem is they're landlocked, and they're also in the path of an
emerging redevelopment pattern," she said. "At some point, how far do you go
to hang onto something?"

Goff, who is still in the initial planning stage of his development, said
his project would bring thousands of new jobs to the area.

As a result, the city and county could regain much of the economic activity
they've lost and possibly more, said Rennels.

"The difficult part is always letting go of the past, but as you look toward
the future, probably there's going to be a balance," she said.

While the closing of the airport would have an effect on Fort Collins, it's
not something the city can do anything about, said city manager Darin
Atteberry, who has met with several members of the Save the Airport group.

The city might have taken a more active approach in trying to keep the
airport open if the Fort Collins-Loveland Airport weren't located nearby.
That airport is planning an expansion that could include an extension of its
8,500-foot runway and the addition of a communications tower.

"At this point, it's really a matter between private property owners," said
Atteberry. "It sounds like the majority owner is interested in selling the
property." 

Economic impact of several airports in Northern Colorado:

Fort Collins Downtown Airport:

Employees: 240

Payroll: $4 million

Economic Impact: $10.7 million

Fort Collins-Loveland Airport

Employees: 619

Payroll: $14.2

Economic Impact: $37.1 million

Greeley-Weld County Airport

Employees: 1,436

Payroll: $29.84 million

Economic Impact: $73.1 million 

Attached Photo:

The downtown airport opened in 1966 and faces closure in 2008. The airport
is landlocked and in the path of an emerging redevelopment corridor on
Mulberry Street.

BLUE SKY: The Fort Collins Downtown Airport appears headed for a sale that
likely would spell the airport's closure and redevelopment of the land into
commercial, residential and industrial use. Save the Airport says the
economic impact if that happens is bigger than the city realizes.