A private aviation company wants to lease almost two acres at Denton Enterprise Airport for four decades, and city staff says the airfield is running short of land like it on its east side.
The Airport Advisory Board takes up both subjects at a special called meeting at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, in the terminal building at 5000 Airport Road.
The lease
Torque Denton Partners LLC is asking for about 1.815 acres, or 79,067 square feet. According to the airport's agenda information sheet, the company plans one aircraft storage hangar of roughly 160 by 80 feet and a second building with about 10,805 square feet of shop and office space attached to a hangar of about 10,130 square feet.
It would also pave a 0.299-acre connection to Taxilane Hotel, which it would maintain but would not pay rent on.
The lease would allow aircraft storage, avionics installation and reconditioning, aircraft maintenance and repair, and the office and shop work tied to those operations. The company must invest at least $5 million, the sheet says, and the term runs 40 years, after which the buildings become city property.
Starting at the 10th anniversary, the tenant would owe the city a condition assessment of its facilities every five years.
Rent would start at 38 cents per square foot, or $30,045.46 a year, and rise every two years after the second anniversary in line with the federal consumer price index. Airport staff recommends approval, and the City Council is scheduled to vote on Dec. 1.
The board will also consider recommending that the council approve the transfer of an existing lease at 4701 Spartan Drive from Derafi Technology LLC to Sykes-Vaughan Investments LLC.
What is left to lease
In a separate work item, operations manager Chase Patterson's presentation lists four remaining east-side sites. Staff writes that only a limited number remain and that some high-profile parcels may go out through a formal request for proposals rather than waiting for a developer to call.
- Sites 3 and 4, about 7.9 acres: release and seek proposals within three months. A tenant would pay for taxilane access, Skylane would close, and the taxilane width may restrict how large an aircraft can use the site.
- Site 1, about 2.8 acres: visible and easy to reach by car, but it would need a cross-access agreement. Proposals would be sought within a year.
- Site 5, about 1.2 acres: could serve aviation or non-aviation users, though it sits a long taxi from the active runways. Staff would let the market decide over the next year.
- Site 7B, about 1.5 acres: must keep a safe distance from nearby fuel farms. Also left to the market.
