New airport hangar almost completed

The City of Fostoria is thinking big as it replaces a hangar at Fostoria Metropolitan Airport that burned down in November 2018. The project, with a price tag approaching $1 million, is nearly complete, Mayor Eric Keckler said, with the city's insurance covering all of it. And the idea is to turn it into a financial vehicle for the city."The original hangar that burned was to do maintenance on airplanes and things like that," Keckler said. "Getting a manager in there and then hopefully get a business or something that would cater to airplanes and airports and potentially have discussions about where we want to go next is what we want to do."Keckler said city council will soon receive proposals to finalize specifications for the hiring of an airport manager, as well as one to enter into a grant agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration to seal cracks in the asphalt runway, which measures 5,005 feet in length and 100 feet in width and was determined to be in good condition in a recent FAA study.The new hangar is a brown, 4,800-square-foot building near the parking lot. Construction began in fall 2020, Keckler said. Despite the fire, air traffic has continued, as a beacon and the Automated Weather Observing System were quickly replaced.Keckler said the cost of the actual new building by Whitta Construction of Fostoria is $413,000, but the demolition and other costs to keep the airport functional sent the total price to $477,706.Keckler said the former hangar encroached onto the runway, so the new one has been moved in order to prevent that from happening and to allow for expansion.Keckler said the airport, constructed in 1972, has remained much the same over the years while being well maintained. Now, he said, the thought is "to make our airport a major draw for around here and just be a good selling point for potential industrial partners and commercial partners."Said the mayor: "We want our airport to be one of the premier airports in this area. That's our thought. That's what we see the potential of it being — a huge economic development tool in the future, where those small corporate jets can come in and out. We're looking at this as an economic-development tool to help grow the city."So, in discussions with people who are part of our consulting and planning team, we thought if we start over here, where (the new hangar) is now, we have the potential to grow and not encroach on the runway. That's where we want to go. What we'll discuss with the manager is trying to attract the type of businesses and products to our airport that makes our airport a destination and makes us have to build more hangars because people will want to have their planes at our airport because of what we eventually want to have out there. That's how we're going into this."Safety Service Director Deb Hellman said 12 planes occupy other hangars at the airport."They all pay rent for those spots out there and we're working on an upgrade to our fueling system," Keckler said. "Once we get the manager in, we can get back to that business. And from everything we've seen, the rent from the hangars and the fuel should cover the cost of having a new manager out there."Keckler said an early-spring completion date is being eyed for the new building."This has been a long project and it's good to see it close to being done," he said. "Most of the shell part of it is pretty much done. It's just a matter of getting some concrete in there and finishing some of the utilities."