Oct. 13—U.S. Sen. John Hoeven joined a group of local leaders, state lawmakers, unmanned aerial systems business executives and others to dedicate the latest addition to the Grand Sky commercial business and aviation park, a recently-completed multi-tenant facility west of Grand Forks.

About 50 people gathered on the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 12, to mark the official opening of the Multi-Tenant Building, called MT1. And that facility, an 18,000-square-foot-building, has already been fully leased. The building has shared conference space, but is then segmented into eight separate bays. Grand Sky anchor tenant General Atomics occupies five of those bays, Grand Sky Airfield Operations has one and the Northern Plains UAS Test Site has two, one of which will house the mission network operations center of Vantis, the state's network of equipment for flying drones beyond the visual line of sight.

Tuesday was a chilly day, but those gathered for the event took shelter in a tent set up for the occasion. People often looked to the sky as an MQ-9 Reaper UAV, manufactured by General Atomics, flew overhead.

Speakers included Hoeven, R- N.D., a longtime proponent of UAS in North Dakota; Tom Swoyer, president and CEO of Grand Sky Development Co.; and Tom Ford, Grand Forks County administrator.

Hoeven said Grand Sky is "the place to be for all things UAS," proven by the occupied new building.

" The Multi-Tenant Building enables companies of all sizes to be part of the incredible UAS ecosystem we've worked to develop in Grand Forks," Hoeven said. "Over a decade ago, Grand Sky was just a vision. We went to work to secure the lease and attract good companies. Today, we're celebrating yet another expansion at this one-of-a-kind aviation and tech park."

Hoeven called Swoyer a "visionary" for developing the roughly 200-acre site. Swoyer thanked various groups, including state lawmakers, local leaders of both the city and county, federal lawmakers and others for assisting with financial, fire safety and legislative assistance in bringing the site, and the new building, to fruition.

"We're really excited to be dedicating this building today," Swoyer said, gesturing to the sky as the Reaper flew by. "This is a two-and-a-half-year project in the making, by the time we got through weather, COVID and a variety of other things. It's taken us a while."

Speaking just before the event, Swoyer told the Herald plans are in the works for two additional buildings.

Ford thanked those gathered for their help in making Grand Sky possible. Just six years ago, it was a pasture.

"Tom, you have a passion, you have an expertise for this that is like no other," Ford said.

The drone business park is a venture made possible by multiple entities. The U.S. Air Force leased the land to Grand Forks County, and county commissioners then created an agreement allowing Grand Sky Development Co. to set up shop. Swoyer thanked Hoeven for his continued support, and thanked the Legislature for authorizing more than $28 million for site development, as well as the tenant companies that lease space there.

The sprawling facility is located just west of Grand Forks Air Force Base.

Hoeven called upon several partners to stand and be recognized for their work in getting the site off the ground, including Bob Rost, Cynthia Pic and David Engen, members of the Grand Forks County Commission.

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