It's a busy summer for Lee Gilmer Airport in Gainesville, with work starting to pick up on a new hangar near the airport entrance.
Airport Manager Terry Palmer briefed the Gainesville City Council on the progress at a work session last Thursday. He said recent rain has slowed down utility location and site improvement, but things are now moving forward.
"We're actually seeing some concrete being poured for the floor structure of the building, and hopefully in the next few weeks, we'll start seeing steel being delivered and start seeing a building actually constructed."
In his formal presentation to the council, Palmer asked members to approve the transfer of part of an Airport Industrial Park lot to the Marel Company.
Marel is buying the building at 1080 Airport Parkway and will lease the ground.
"We'll get a little bit of additional revenue, which all the revenue from the Airport Industrial Park goes directly to the airport, so it stays in the operating budget of the airport. It's going to be a positive for the airport," Palmer said.
Additional revenue for the park is expected to be about $3,600 annually.
The building's owners, Joseph and Cheryl Irvin, had previous approval from the city to sell the structure to LCL Holdings Company, but LCL eventually chose not to purchase it, according to city documents.
The lot is actually part of a sub-lease under the primary lease between the city and Foamco Capital.
Also at the briefing, Palmer told council members the airport saw about 3,000 visitors and 100 aircraft at the recent Cracker Fly In. He estimated the number of planes was above average.
"We were a little slow because our weather was low that morning, so we got a slow start. It's a fly in so planes are coming in from all over the southeast to visit with us that day, so they started trickling in that day about mid-morning," Palmer said.
The local chapter of Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA611) puts on the fly in.
