NEW HANGARS AMONG MIAMI TWP. AIRPORT UPGRADES
Studies outline land-use options at Wright Brothers Airport.
New hangars and — infrastructure to support more of them are being built on the — west side of Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport while officials digest long-range plans for land east of the facility.
The city of Dayton, which operates the general aviation site, is looking to complete the construction of a $1 million hangar along Ohio 741 by the end of the year and has started laying the groundwork for others, according to Terry Slaybaugh, the city’s director of aviation.
Meanwhile, a hangar is being built by the Connor Group next to the company’s $18 million architecturally recognized headquarters near Austin Boulevard, Slaybaugh said.
“We’re excited about that. It’s very interesting design for a hangar,” he said. “I think people will be interested in it because it’s not going to look like your typical aircraft hangar. It’s going to complement the Connor Group building.”
The hangar, expected to be completed in July 2018, will house about four planes and be used solely for the company’s corporate jets, said Jennifer Jolls, communications director for the Connor Group.
The spike in construction along Ohio 741 at the airport comes at a time when officials who oversee development at the facility and land near it are considering long-term studies focusing of the best use of Dayton-owned land
east of the site.
The studies were commissioned by the Miami Twp.-Dayton Joint Economic Development District Board of Directors, a tax-sharing partnership of the two jurisdictions.
A report by Juniper CRE Solutions examining the “highest and best” use of the land — potentially as much as 80 acres — recommended flex research and development, and light industrial.
Those uses present “an excellent opportunity for the township to capitalize on the strong aviation and defense sectors present in the Dayton market and capture the higher paying wages that come with these types of sectors,” according to the study.
The second study, by LJB Inc., outlines options for that land that all include a light industrial park housing at least 500,000 square feet of building space.
The study suggests three configurations for light industrial park scenarios ranging from 11 to 18 buildings. According to the study, they include:
Nine buildings with 50,000 square feet each and two buildings with 25,000 square feet each.
One building with 100,000 square feet, three buildings with 50,000 square feet each and 13 buildings with 25,000 square feet each.
One building with 100,000 square feet and 17 buildings with 25,000 square feet each.
Meanwhile, the hangar the city is building near the Warren County border is the first new facility to house aircraft at the 527-acre airport in decades, officials have said.
The new hangar will be able to hold more aircraft and will be about 3,000 square feet larger than the building demolished in the spring, Dayton Aviation Deputy Director Gil Turner has said.
The infrastructure work to accommodate more hangars is in preparation “for what we’re calling four box hangars,” Slaybaugh said.
“We currently are negotiating with three different aircraft owners who are interested in constructing those hangars,” which he said would be private hangars each consuming about 6,000 square feet.
Grants will fund the repaving the ramp in front of the hangars and a project to install underground power lines along Ohio 741, Slaybaugh said.
The moving of the power lines is not expected to start until next year, he said.