City aims to put old hangar to use

Boulder City is looking for ideas on how the town’s old airport hangar and runway can be reused.

Staff recently released a request for information to solicit ideas for the project.

The old airport property is at 1401 Boulder City Parkway and encompasses 22.67 acres of land. It was the first airport in town and was dedicated Dec. 17, 1933.

In 1936, Grand Canyon Boulder Dam Tours Inc. took control of the airport and expanded it. According to city documents, it extended the runways and built a hangar and terminal building. The old airport was also the home to a military flight academy and testing site for Howard Hughes’ Sikorsky S-43 amphibious aircraft. It closed in 1990 when Boulder City’s new municipal airport was built.

Most recently, the 8,000-square-foot hangar was leased by a contractor for storage, and the city issued the request for information soon after that lease ended.

“With the expiration of the hanger lease last year, the city received several inquiries regarding interest in the hanger and the adjacent runway. … The city wanted to create a transparent process to solicit ideas for its continued use,” said Lisa LaPlante, communications manager for the city.

According to LaPlante, the city is looking for ideas on how the hangar and runway can be used together or separately.

“We’ll review the proposed uses and provide a staff report to the City Council as well as the Historic Preservation Committee,” she said. “We anticipate review and reports to be complete in the summer of this year.”

Alan Goya, chairman of the Historic Preservation Committee, said he had no comment about any potential uses for the property.

The city is not planning to sell the property and will maintain ownership if it is leased out.

According to the city’s request, it “will favor responses” that bring visitors into Boulder City and ones that preserve and promote the historical significance of the airport and are innovative in the quality and design of the proposed architectural improvements. The city will not consider aviation uses, including drones, because of the site’s proximity to the municipal airport.

Proposals for the property must be submitted by 5 p.m. May 20.

The property was appraised in May 2017. According to the city, the appraised value of the hangar is $500,000, and the runway site is approximately $5.2 million.

For details, contact Boulder City Purchasing Manager Paul Sikora at psikora@bcnv.org.

Final Addendum 1 to RFI 2019-02 by Boulder City Review on Scribd

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.