The Monmouth City Council has approved the last piece of putting the city’s airport puzzle back together, after a fire destroyed a terminal and a hangar area in 2019.
Aldermen this week approved a $478,000 bid from Hein Construction to build the terminal building for the airport.
“We have been able to, obviously, complete the construction of a new ten-unit hangar,” said Lew Steinbrecher, City Administrator. “But, haven’t yet been able to actually get a new terminal building built until we were able to finalize the bid specifications for the building itself. So, that was awarded.”
The bid was less than $20,000 higher than architects’ estimates, said Steinbrecher.
“We’re hopeful that the successful bidder will be able to start work yet this fall,” said Steinbrecher. “If we’re able to get it enclosed, it can be finished up during the winter months. We’re hopeful that we’ll have it available for use and occupancy by the springtime of next year.”
It’s been almost exactly five years since the fire at the airport. It’s not clear what caused the blaze. An estimated $750,000 in damage was done to airplanes in the previous hangar.
Insurance money is paying for the construction and did so for the hangar building. Steinbrecher says the runways and the placement of the hangars and terminal building are different than five years ago, but should work well for patrons.
Steinbrecher says many in the city are finally ready to put the fire at the airport behind them.
