Phoenix-Mesa Turns Corporate

Mesa Community College also offers flight training here, with the University of North Dakota as the training provider.

Comments Kusy, “We’re really happy to get all three of them in this spot. And again, kudos to Chandler-Gilbert Community College for providing the trained, skilled workforce that these guys need. Chandler-Gilbert has a tremendous reputation nationally.”

Cessna, Embraer, Hawker-beechcraft
Business jet traffic was practically non-existent at Phoenix-Mesa two years ago. “We get about 80 business jets a month in and out of here now,” comments Kusy.

“Our first success was with Cessna,” he says, with initial contact made with the bizjet manufacturer in the mid-90s. The two parties didn’t sit down to actually negotiate a deal until 2001, he says. “It was a long and arduous process. We got the lease in place in 2004; construction started in 2006 and will be finished in 2008.

“What that did for us is it caused us to have to develop the infrastructure to support the Cessna project in that industrial area. We built the fire suppression system; two taxiways, one specifically for them. Because we had the success with Cessna and we had the community college right across the street, we attracted the attention of the others.

“Embraer came to us looking for a location for their Southwest Service Center, one of four in the U.S. Their business plan was to have these service centers built and ready to run when they rolled their first aircraft off the assembly line, which is scheduled for later this year.

“They move very quickly. Within two and a half months we had the deal fully negotiated and signed.”

The arrival of Hawker-Beechcraft was a whole different situation, he says. A developer had built a 25,000-square foot spec hangar; Hawker-Beechcraft was looking for a location for a service center in the Southwest. “This hangar was available along with some option land, and after some negotiation they bought the hangar from the private developer,” explains Kusy.

“Three different scenarios; three different companies; three major service centers.”

Kusy relates that one of the reasons the Cessna lease was so hard to negotiate was because the OEM initially wanted the airport to issue airport revenue bonds to support that facility. “There was a lot of technical language in the leases with respect to the issuance of bonds,” he says. “We did not issue the bonds, as it turned out. They decided not to ask for it and to go with private financing.”

Leases for the corporate tenants are similar to most on the airfield, says Kusy — 30 years with two five-year options. Rates run 30-35 cents per square foot, although Cessna pays somewhat less because it signed on earlier and has a larger footprint. All leases at Phoenix-Mesa have CPI (Consumer Price Index) and market adjustment clauses, says Kusy.

All three corporate tenants — Cessna, Embraer, and Hawker-Beechcraft — have expansion options on adjacent acreage.