The following makes for some interesting reading...The property is still vacant with NOTHING having been started yet.
PARAGON PROPERTY NEWS
Senator talks cargo airport
BY JIM DINO
TIMES • Shamrock Writer
jimdino@standardspeaker.com
02/23/2008
HAZLETON — Whether projects to allow airports in Pittsburgh and New York to handle cargo will compete with a proposed cargo airport near Hazleton will be determined by a study already under way, a state senator said. Sen. Ray Musto, D-14, told a Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce Red Carpet Breakfast crowd Thursday morning that the study will indicate whether it makes sense to build the $1.6 billion cargo-only airport. The airport would be located in southwestern Luzerne and northeastern Schuylkill counties.
The Senate, Musto said, directed its Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study the economic impact of the proposed cargo airport on the Hazleton area and the potential risks and benefits to the state in providing economic development funds to support the project.
Martin Associates, a Lancaster-based planning and analysis firm being paid $195,196 to conduct the study, must report back to the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee by June 30. “If the report comes back positive, then it’s full speed ahead” with the airport, Musto said. Musto said state funding — $5 million from the Commonwealth Financing Authority — has already been approved for the first phase of a $22 million project to create a cargo facility at the old Greater Pittsburgh Airport. And the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is taking over the lease on Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, N.Y., and will add a new terminal and parking so the airport that served about 300,000 passengers last year can accommodate 1.5 million. It will also take on additional cargo business.
However, a spokesman for the Port Authority said that even if Stewart International takes more planes, the Hazleton proposal could remain viable because the demand for freight traffic is growing every year. Gladstone Partners, the developer proposing the airport, issued a news release in response to Musto’s speech.
“Gladstone Partners begs to differ with Senator Musto,” the statement said. “We firmly believe the creation of an international port in our back yard will be of great benefit to the economic status and quality of life of everyone who lives, works and plays in Northeastern Pennsylvania.”Gladstone expects to have preliminary engineering plans ready for April 1.
“We have been meeting and working with the Pennsylvania Department of Aviation and Department of Environmental Protection,” the release said.
“In addition, we have met with local agencies from which initial approvals will be required and expect to submit the preliminary engineering plans to them on or about April 1 so they may begin their review and approval process. The engineering plan is being developed by URS, one of the largest aviation engineers in the world.”
Musto noted the Federal Aviation Administration has “not signed off on the need for the airport, nor have they given it their approval.”
Gladstone said in its statement “the initial approval needed from the FAA was a determination as to the safe and efficient use of navigable airspace. This was requested and has been granted to Gladstone.”
Jim Peters of the FAA’s New York office said the agency only approved a feasibility study, and that the administration has no opinion about the proposal. Musto pointed out that no major carrier has stepped forward to locate or become a major tenant at the proposed cargo airport. “This is a critical component of the project, given its scope, expense and impact on the taxpayer,” the senator said, adding that Gladstone’s role in the financing and long-term operations of the airport is “publicly unspecified.” Gladstone said in its release that it is working with prospective tenants/carriers for the airport and an international firm is handling financing. “Financing options and structures are being addressed by JP Morgan, which has international relationships and stature. Tenant opportunities are being reviewed by Jacobs-Consultancy. Gladstone Partners has received letters of interest from international and national airport operators along with letters of interest from some of the largest investment firms in the world.”
On the subject of financing, Musto said that if the facility was funded half by the public sector and half by the private sector, the government would have to float bond issues to pay for it. The state, Musto said, would have to float a $500,000 bond, which, ever if it were A rated, would probably carry an interest rate of 5 percent.
Meanwhile, the airport would hold up all other county projects, including those proposed by CAN DO and others across Luzerne County, totaling more than $87 million, Musto said. This week, commissioners in Luzerne County said an airport commission that was to study the proposal likely would not form.
