Small Town News

Aerospace museum one tick closer to West Plains liftoff

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Once funding is secured for a groundbreaking, project could attract business to the area

Six acres along Interstate 90 have been acquired for an Armed Forces and Aerospace Museum that has spent more than a decade in the planning stages. Now supporters hope to move the project toward a 2011 groundbreaking goal.

Three acres of the property, located at the corner of Thomas Mallen Road and Geiger Boulevard, were donated by a group of West Plains property developers while an unnamed donor paid for the other three acres. The groups have also agreed to set aside an additional six acres in order to allow for future museum expansions.

For nearly eight years the AFAM board of directors was in talks with the Spokane International Airport about securing a site in the southeast corner of the Airport Business Park, but the parties couldn't see eye to eye on a low-market lease agreement, according to Tobby Hatley, spokesman for the museum project. Soon after talks broke down last summer the board was approached by a private LLC made up of Tim Welsh, Al Payne, Bruce Morelan, Jack Gillingham, Kevin Edwards, Pete Thompson and Dick Edwards, a partnership which also owns about 78 acres surrounding the proposed museum site.

"It's a great location on the freeway for good visibility and it's close to the airport," said Tim Welsh, president of Garco Construction. Welsh said the land is zoned for light industrial and would be an ideal place for businesses looking to escape the overcrowded west side of the state. "Spokane is, unfortunately, one of those well kept secrets. Other airports, like Seattle, are congested, but Spokane is wide open for industrial and manufacturing. Hopefully people on the 1-5 corridor will wake up and realize that."

Hatley said the highly visible, community-oriented nature of the museum project will help Welsh and other owners generate interest in the neighboring property. "When developing land you need an anchor, a catalyst to drive development," he said. "It's a lot easier to sell if somebody is already on it."

The entire area is in a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district, in which bonds are sold to finance infrastructure creation, and then repaid out of the tax revenue generated by new development. This, said Hatley, will help the museum fund improvements and will be an added incentive for future construction in the area.

Hatley said now that land has finally been secured for the museum it will be a lot easier to find donors willing to pledge support to the project. The non-profit AFAM has so far raised $1.2 million from public and private sources, and Hatley said the goal is to bring in another $3.5 million before starting construction within the next 12 to 16 months.

AFAM board president Catherine Brazil was in Olympia last week to show legislators the signed land agreement in order to firm up about $400,000 in state funding that was previously set aside for the project. "The way the budget is right now they're not going to keep money for projects unless there is visible progress being made," Hatley said. "We have to provide them with a reason to keep money in the pipeline for this project."

The first portion of the museum will include a B-52 now housed at Fairchild Air force Base, a veteran's memorial and space for rotating exhibits and special events, according to a press release. The fully completed $14 million facility will include a theater, outdoor aircraft displays, classrooms and a veteran's research library.

Ryan Lancaster can be reached at ryan@cheneyfreepress.com.



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© 2010 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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