Landing deals: What this Rock Hill airport expansion means for the growing city
Expansion at the Rock Hill-York County Airport means more space for the corporate and other aircraft Rock Hill leaders want to attract.
Rock Hill City Council approved a 35-year ground lease agreement earlier this week with Recon Carolina. The company will build and rent at least 24 t-hangars, five small box hangars and a restroom facility along taxi areas connected to the runway. On the 110,000-square-foot area leased, there will be 37,920 square feet of construction.
“The city will own the hangars at the end of the lease term,” said airport director Steven Gould.
Construction will be complete within 18 months of the signed lease. The addition will come near Bryant Boulevard and Homestead Road. The $8,342 first-year rental rate will increase annually. The city estimates $9,436 in annual tax revenue from the hangars, and about $7,000 from the aircraft based there.
The decision helps in an issue that’s faced the airport for years, Gould said.
“We have a very deficient amount of hangar space available,” he said.
Plans are for another phase of expansion following this one.
“We’re just starting with this phase first, and see where the market is in a couple of years to see if we can continue to do another phase which will add an additional 16 t-hangars and four medium-size box hangars,” Gould said.
City Councilman Jim Reno said fuel costs, tax structure and other variables need consideration to grow airport usage.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is attract aircraft, keep them housed here with these type hangars,” he said.
Large jet and corporate aircraft have been a major discussion point the past couple of years. They are key for large business projects the city wants to attract. Aspen Business Park, one of the biggest economic development drivers on the near horizon in Rock Hill, is beside the airport.
Tax value on aircraft declines each year, but large jet and corporate aircraft often don’t keep the same planes flying long, Gould said.
“Those guys typically change out their aircraft every five to seven years,” he said.
More hangars will allow more of the types of planes that can help Rock Hill grow, while also adding revenue.
“Having additional aircraft based at the airport and continuing to utilize it and continue to move as a higher usage, we continue to generate more revenue,” Gould said.
The airport at 550 Airport Road is owned by the city. A joint city and York County commission advises on operations. The airport doesn’t offer commercial service, but serves private, corporate and charter flights. A 7,200-square-foot terminal building offers a concourse, pilot lounge and shop, flight planning and a conference room.
From November 2018 to October 2019, the airport averaged 1,459 takeoffs or landings per month. About 86% of those takeoffs and landings came from non-jet aircraft. The airport sold almost 27,900 gallons of fuel per month in that same time.
The most recent South Carolina Aeronautics Commission study of the airport put its impact at $40.5 million in annual economic activity.
A 2016 airport layout plan estimated the 152 aircraft based at the airport in 2015 would increase 53% by 2035. An expansion came in 2017. The developer with the current expansion wasn’t the main developer then, but was part of the project.
York County leaders identified airport runway expansion in early 2019 as a major need to bring in more corporate headquarters level projects. Another 1,000 feet of runway, they said, would allow larger planes access to the airport.
Airport expansion also came up at state and local level talks involving the Carolina Panthers.
Panthers COO Mark Hart said last fall the airport in Rock Hill was a major draw for team owner David Tepper in the decision to move Panthers headquarters from Charlotte to Rock Hill. The team also bought Waterford Golf Club and has a tax incentive agreement in place that could reshape York County development for decades.
Gould told city council Monday night there are factors from fuel cost to taxes to availability of hangar space that impact whether corporate travel takes flight out of Rock Hill compared to other sites in Lancaster, Chester or elsewhere in the Charlotte region. If the airport in Rock Hill is competitive with smaller airports in the region, the ground level transportation network and economic opportunities in Rock Hill make it attractive, he said.
“As we continue to grow,” Gould said, “it just makes more sense for them to base here.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 12:29 PM.
