A new home for maintenance and support of the U.S. Navy's P-8A Poseidon aircraft is coming to Jacksonville's Cecil Airport in 2022, according to the Jacksonville Aviation Authority.
The authority's board approved the development of a 39,000-square-foot airplane hangar and office facility on the airport's northwest side at a cost of almost $12 million.
The facility, leased to ManTech Advanced Systems International Inc., adds one more layer of aircraft maintenance and flight operations to a sprawling airport facility previously known as Naval Air Station Cecil Field.
“This lease with ManTech shows that Cecil Airport continues to be recognized as an ideal location for aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul operations,” JAA CEO Mark VanLoh said. “Moreover, we anticipate that this new hangar will begin to open up the northern section of Cecil Airport for additional development.”
The Navy opened its first airfield in 1941 at the site just south of 103rd Street and Normandy Boulevard, naming the base in honor of Cmdr. Henry Barton Cecil. The base was closed, then turned over to the city in 2004 and renamed Cecil Airport.
Since then, about $170 million has been invested in infrastructure and facility improvements, the airport authority said. Multiple private companies have moved into the former Navy facilities or built new ones, like the Boeing Co., Florida Army National Guard, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Florida State College at Jacksonville opened a facility, while Bridgestone has a million-square-foot distribution operation at Cecil Commerce Center.
The general and industrial aviation airport's latest hangar will house ManTech's U.S. Navy Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Airport Program. That will support and maintain the Boeing anti-submarine and interdiction aircraft that are replacing the Navy's aging 117-foot-long Lockheed P3 Orions.
The facility also will have 81,507 square feet of aircraft ramp and vehicle parking. Construction should be done by the first quarter of 2022, the authority said.
The five-year lease agreement is valued at about $4.9 million and includes two more five-year options.
Dan Scanlan: (904) 359-4549
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: $12 million hangar facility designated at Jacksonville's Cecil Airport for Navy P-8A maintenance
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