Murfreesboro Airport seeking $6 million to build new terminal
Murfreesboro Airport officials seek to build a $6 million terminal by fall 2019 that will be five times bigger than the existing one, manager Chad Gehrke said.
“We plan for a building that can meet the needs for the next 50 years,” said Gehrke, a 23-year manager of the airport located off the east side of Memorial Boulevard.
Gehrke expects the Murfreesboro City Council to award a contract for the 20-month construction project by the spring after bids go out by November for a contractor to build a two-story, 20,000-squarefoot terminal that will replace one dating to 1952.
The city will seek this taxpayer-funded project while TDK and Air Methods (which provides air ambulance services for Vanderbilt University Medical Center) are teaming to privately fund a $2.5 million hangar, Gehrke said.
The project will include a multipurpose meeting room that can accommodate 100 people and be used to train Middle Tennessee State University aerospace students and others learning aviation skills, Gehrke said.
The meeting room also will serve community events and offer an adjacent kitchen for caterers, said Steve Waldron, the chairman of a Murfreesboro Airport Commission that recommends the council approve the terminal project.
“People will be able to use it for weddings or other catered events,” Waldron said. “It will give a nice view of the runway.”
The project has the support of Mayor Shane McFarland.
“I am absolutely behind proceeding with the project,” said the mayor, who presides over meetings of his fellow elected council members. “We’ve outgrown the existing facility, especially for being MTSU’s aerospace school. We are in absolute dire need in getting something done out there, and I think we will.”
Rather than continue to renovate a terminal that was previously worked on in 1986, McFarland has, since winning his term as mayor in 2014, urged the airport manager to pursue a new building.
The terminal and private hangar projects would add to the development of an airport that in 2015 extended the runway by 852 feet to 4,750 feet.
In addition to the future terminal offering a large center for meetings, the building will provide more than 3,000 square feet of office space for rent that can generate revenues to help pay back the cost of the project, Waldron said.
“We’ve had demand from MTSU,” Waldron said. “Their flight training has taken off for the last several years. It’s a phenomenal place for pilots to train.”
The added offices for rent will assist MTSU and aviation-related businesses, Waldron said.
“We can fill that up pretty quick after it’s built,” Waldron said. “I’m completely excited and looking forward and hoping it does go through. And it can definitely change the image of the average person coming through now.”
Airport officials plan for the future terminal to include a video wall that can show visitors some of the highlights of Murfreesboro, Gehrke said.
“Whether you are going into our community or never leave the terminal, you will see the best parts of Murfreesboro and get a feel for our community,” Gehrke said.
The airport manager noted how a project committee visited terminals at other general aviation airports to get ideas from Chattanooga, Lebanon, Pulaski and Cleveland, Tenn.
The airport officials are working on the new terminal with the Knoxville office of Michael Baker International, which is providing architectural services.
The terminal building is expected to cost $4.5 million, and the overall cost will be $6 million when counting site work, Gehrke said.
The City Council will borrow the money to fund most of the construction. The Murfreesboro Airport Commission did win a $350,000 grant for the project from the Tennessee Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division, Gehrke said.
Contact Scott Broden at 615278-5158. Follow him on Twitter @ScottBroden.