City of Sedalia to Purchase Pro Energy Hangar

The Sedalia City Council passed a resolution and an ordinance Tuesday night authorizing the purchase of the Pro Energy Hangar at Sedalia Regional Airport.

The ordinance authorizes an increase in the expenditures in the budget for fiscal year 2020-2021 relating to the purchase of the 120-by-120-foot building as well as additional tools needed by the airport.

According to City Administrator Kelvin Shaw, Pro Energy's business model has changed and needed to sell the hangar.

“They are traveling less internationally, so most of their travel is more domestic now,” he said Wednesday morning. “So their need for the larger hangar is less. So they eventually want to do a smaller hangar.”

Shaw noted that Pro Energy would rent space to pilots wanting to store their plane overnight.

The hangar was not being used to its full capacity, and Pro Energy no longer needed a 120-by-120-foot hangar, with offices and a conference room on the side occupying 120-by-30 feet of space, Shaw noted.

“It's a very nice hangar, it's been very well maintained,” he said.

The City of Sedalia owns the ground the hangar sits on, and therefore there is a ground lease. “If they did want to sell it, they would have to approach the City first,” Shaw said, “because the City would have to approve the sale. So it made a lot of sense to talk to us first.”

The City and Pro Energy came up with a purchase price of $2.9 million for the climate-controlled facility.

Airport Manager Derrick Dodson is a certified mechanic, and the building will allow him to conduct annual aircraft inspections, Shaw pointed out. In addition, the building also its own ground power unit, which is highly useful for keeping jets warm in the winter and cool in the summer for overnight stays.

The City had previously budgeted $40,000 for a ground power unit before the sale of the Pro Energy Hangar became a possibility. “So that's another service that we can provide,” Shaw said.

A conversation between Dodson and Pro Energy representative Crystal Lowe led to the discussion about the City potentially buying the hangar, the largest at Sedalia Regional Airport.

The City is also in the process of building a 65-by-65-foot hangar at Sedalia Regional, Shaw noted. “That's in the design phase, and we've got a grant for that,” Shaw said.

Plans call for Pro Energy to build a much smaller hangar.

Shaw explained that $2.5 million will be paid out this year, followed by a $400,00 payment next year for the Pro Energy Hangar. And that allowed the City to pay for it through two different budget years, along with some reserves.