New hangars back in plans for Schaumburg airport

Responding to existing demand, Schaumburg trustees Tuesday paid $65,000 for the design of two new hangar buildings at Schaumburg Regional Airport to accommodate about 15 more aircraft.

If the designs prove affordable to build, construction could occur in the spring, Director of Transportation June Johnson said.

"We did the site work for this in 2001," Johnson added.

At that time, the village paid only 20 percent of the cost for the site work while the state picked up the remaining 80 percent.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and other economic issues, the project has been on hold since.

But demand for new hangar space has existed through the intervening years, with about 100 aircraft owners on the waiting list. At least some of these have undoubtedly found other places to keep their planes, however, Johnson said.

The village-owned airport currently has 57 hangar units, while the proposed project would add about another 15.

The larger of the two buildings would be 60 feet by 60 feet, while the other is significantly smaller. Both would be located near and share parking space with the Schaumburg Park District's Sport Center next to the airport on Irving Park Road.

Although the shells of the hangar buildings are of specific sizes, the space within them could be divided up between 12 to 24 aircraft depending on their sizes, Village Manager Ken Fritz said.

Because there's been more demand for larger aircraft, it's believed the number of new units built would be close to 15, he added.

The design contract went to Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc. of Naperville. Construction bids are expected to be solicited in the late fall, at least to determine whether the project is financially feasible.

"Right now, the cost of steel and everything else is so high that we're taking this all the way through bid to see what it would cost first," Johnson said.

If construction does begin in the spring, it's expected to take only two or three months before aircraft owners could start moving in, she said.