10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

Eastern WV Airport sells business park land to Maryland company

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport Authority (EWVRAA) hopes a recent $1.5 million real estate transaction will spark new business to their property along Novak Drive.

A 186,673 square foot warehouse with 194 parking spaces on roughly 22 acres of land in the airport’s John D. Rockefeller IV Science & Technology Park was constructed in 1998 as a Polo Ralph Lauren distribution center. It later functioned as an IT data center in 2013. Permission had to first be granted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to sell the land.

On Monday, the EWVRAA announced full transfer of the property to Pan Handle Real Estate Trust, LLC of Cumberland, Maryland. Airport Director Neil Doran told MetroNews affiliate WEPM some have questioned why there are multiple empty structures in the business park compared to other similar business parks throughout Berkeley County.

“The business park is ‘airport land’ in the eyes of the FAA,” said Doran. “So it’s land that’s dedicated to aviation purposes. So when a potential business buyer approaches the airport authority asking about land they have to learn about these federal rules. Sometimes those things are a turn off.”

As part of the transaction, a long-term ground lease with the EWVRAA has been terminated. Authority Chairman Jim Klein is optimistic about the ownership change.

“We see this transaction as a unified win for all three counties of the Eastern Panhandle: Berkeley, Jefferson, Morgan and for the City of Martinsburg. $1.5 million represents a sizable capital investment in the eastern panhandle and a cash infusion for the Airport Authority, assisting in our future growth plans and development objectives.”

Prior to this agreement, owners of parcels in the John D. Rockefeller IV Science & Technology Park did not own the land underneath and around their building, just the structure itself. Doran said the authority agreed to sell both the land and structure together.

“We had to go through a process with the FAA to do a land release,” said Dolan. “We did environmental documentation. We submitted a great deal of paperwork to them. Over time, they gave their approval. They recognize that this land was not needed for aviation purposes and that our selling it for 1.5 million dollars represents obtaining and receiving more than fair market value.”

One of the strategy’s goals was to generate new income for reinvestment and the potential for non-aeronautical development opportunities.

“We can work in partnership with the Berkeley County Development Authority, the West Virginia Commerce Department and the development office. We can try to effectively make the (John D.) Rockefeller Park unencumbered by federal hindrances and by complications that have kind of held back and hindered economic growth in the past.”

The location and the Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport is located less than two miles from the new Procter & Gamble manufacturing plant off of I-81 exit 8.





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