Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Services Inc. (AMES) and the Clinton County Port Authority have completed the necessary arrangements to proceed with the financing and construction of a new hangar facility at the Wilmington Air Park.
After nearly two years of careful planning, construction of the facility is scheduled to begin in January and will take approximately 12-14 months to complete. Preparation of the construction site is already underway. When finished, the 100,000ft2 facility will be capable of housing multiple aircraft as large as a Boeing 747-400 or Boeing 777-300ER. The hangar will be owned by the Port Authority and occupied by AMES.
“This is a complex project that required extensive coordination between state and local entities, both public and private,” says AMES president Brady Templeton.
The project, negotiated with JobsOhio, Air Transport Services Group Inc. (ATSG), AMES and the Port Authority, represents not only the development of a new $15.5 million hangar at the Wilmington Air Park, but the creation of 259 new jobs. In addition to the State of Ohio financing package of over $14 million that was negotiated, the Port Authority agreed to additional financial incentives and other donations amounting to just over $3 million, from its own resources. Local grants from the City of Wilmington, Clinton County and the Wilmington Community Improvement Corporation for this project amounted to $525,000.
Port Authority Chairman David Hockaday says, “In the spirit of cooperation we have been able to negotiate this complex deal with the Company and the State of Ohio. We are especially grateful to the city, the county, the Wilmington CIC, and the Wilmington City School District for their contributions to this project. The creation of 259 new jobs by AMES will provide a much needed boost to our local economy.”
The project represents an expansion in hangar capacity of almost 50% for AMES, and will result in the eventual creation of hundreds of new jobs. “We are already recruiting additional personnel,” noted AMES Director of Human Resources Debbie Loveless, “and we will continue to ramp up employment through the construction phase.” At the end of a three-year period, it is anticipated that AMES employment at the Wilmington Air Park will exceed 640 individuals.