Lakeland officials have leased out the last parcel available for a major development on the north side of Lakeland Linder International Airport.
City commissioners voted unanimously on May 19 to sign a 40-year lease agreement with Florida-based Arcade Aviation LLC for 16.41 acres on the airport’s grounds. The site is in the northeast corner of the airport, bordering Drane Field Road and Airport Perimeter Road East.
Arcade Aviation, a division of Arcade Capital, is a New York-based real estate investment platform formed by Will Obeid and Jonathan Mazzarella. The team’s proposal is to build a roughly 137,000-square-foot hangar that can serve as a base of operations for an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility, common called an MRO.
“We’ve been really enthused about this project. It’s something that is attractive to us, attractive to MRO operators, and will be great for the City of Lakeland and Lakeland Linder airport,” Obeid said to commissioners.
The hangar to be constructed will be large enough to provide inspections and maintain or repair commercial aircraft as large as a Boeing B767 or Airbus A330. A city planning diagram shows there will be space to park at least three of these aircraft and multiple smaller planes.
Kris Hallstrand, Lakeland’s airport director, said the city has reaching out in an attempt to attract an aircraft maintenance and repair facility.
“There’s a shortage in the country of MRO facilities,” she told commissioners in the May 16 agenda study. “One of the biggest challenges is workforce.”
Lakeland is ideally located for an MRO, Hallstrand said, given Polk County’s rapidly growing population along with the unique education programs offered on the airport grounds that are training and producing the next generation of aircraft mechanics.
“This was the next step in growth,” Hallstrand said. “We’ve done a lot of these larger projects and deals to make the airport whole. This was one of those steps.
These factors combined were able to make Lakeland a target for an investment firm with strong pre-existing ties in the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul industry, according to Obeid.
“Lakeland is an ideal fit for these parameters and we are super excited to be here in front of you with this project,” Obeid said.
Arcade Aviation will pay the city about $21,444 in monthly rent starting in their third year, or as soon as they obtain a certificate of occupancy after the hangar is built. This is more than $257,000 a year. Starting in the sixth year of the lease contract, the rent will increase by 3.5%.
Arcade Aviation is responsible for paying all taxes and utilities, such as electric, water and wastewater, and stormwater fees associated with the property.
Obeid said the investment firm is currently building two similar MRO facilities, one in the Midwest and another in Florida. If all goes well, Hallstrand said she expects the project to result in the addition of 200 to 300 high-skill, high-wage jobs at the airport.
“To drive by and see that size of aircraft sitting there being worked on is exciting. It’s an evolution,” Commissioner Mike Musick said. “It’s a great investment. We appreciate it, good luck with it.”
Just what we need. More 1 am departures.