Aurora Eyes New Lease Agreement Designed to Stimulate Improvements at Aurora Municipal Airport
Jan. 8—The Aurora City Council is set to vote on a new lease with Carver Aero designed to stimulate building activity at the Aurora Municipal Airport.
Aldermen will vote Tuesday on the new lease agreement with Carver Aero, LLC that would replace the former lease with Luminair, Inc. as a fixed-base operator.
The lease would include a clause calling for investment of new infrastructure by Carver Aero of at least $10 million. It would be for five years, with three, five-year renewal terms for a total of 20 years.
According to the lease, if the infrastructure improvements are done as called for, the city would rebate ground rent paid by Carver Aero for each of the 20 years.
"The new lease has a $10 million commitment," said Carmen Forte, a lawyer with Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, Ltd., who negotiated the lease for the city. "Any failure of Carver to meet that commitment ... would require them to pay ground rent."
Aldermen are expected to approve the new lease, placing it on the consent agenda for the Jan. 11 regular City Council meeting.
City officials have said the investment by Carver would include significant upgrades to the former Lumanair site, including the construction of an above-ground fuel storage facility, updated hangar and lobby space and refreshed exterior appearances.
The arrangement is similar to the lease structure used to stimulate development at the Joliet Air Center site at the airport, city officials have said.
City officials have said the modernization by Carver would benefit everyone who uses the airport.
Carver Aero will be entering Illinois for the first time as a fixed-based operator. Headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa, at that city's municipal airport, Carver Aero also has fixed-base operations in Davenport and Council Bluffs, Iowa, as well as Janesville, Wisconsin.
The Council Bluffs location has a large flight school that works with the University of Nebraska.
Buying Lumanair is part of the model Carver Aero has had of acquiring what company officials have called solid, family-owned, legacy businesses.
In addition to Lumanair, Carver Aero also acquired ATS Illinois, an aircraft maintenance and servicing company, which specializes in engines and turbines, that has operated at the Aurora Municipal Airport since 1992.
Lumanair began in Aurora in 1961 at the predecessor to the Aurora Municipal Airport, the Aurora Airways Airport, a strip along Interstate 88 on the far West Side. They moved to the Aurora Airport in 1966, and have been a fixed-base operator there ever since.
Mike Luman and his brothers took over the business from their parents, and a number of Luman family members still work at the airport. The Lumans decided to sell when Bob Luman wanted to retire; Mike and others will continue to work with Carver Aero.
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