Hangar Must Suit Allen’s Needs

It might be nice to own a custom Boeing 757, but try finding a parking spot.

Paul Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corp. and owner of the Portland Trail Blazers, has had to pay millions of dollars to park his luxury jet at Seattle’s Boeing Field, the Bellevue Journal American reported Wednesday.

The two-engine jet, which Allen uses to fly his NBA team around the country, has been described by former Trail Blazers forward Buck Williams, himself a licensed pilot, as “the most state-of-the-art, well-equipped, luxurious plane I’ve ever flown on.”

Although large enough to carry 239 people, it’s been redesigned to seat about 35. It has a big screen television, two lounge areas, card tables, compact disc players, an office-bedroom, and a section where coaches can pop game tapes into a VCR. High-backed chairs have color TVs that pop out of the armrests.

According to Boeing, a new 757 costs between $61 million and $68 million.

But that price doesn’t include a place to keep it.

The newspaper said Allen paid $2.3 million for a 38,000-square-foot building that has runway access at the airport. Allen, however, is tearing down the building to build a hangar big enough for the 155-foot-long plane.

“Kind of interesting someone would buy a million-dollar building and tear it down,” said Robert Khilstrom, who sold his interest in the building and land lease to Allen.

But there’s more.

To get that land, Allen had to pay another $5.6 million as part of a package deal for two other buildings on a second, larger land lease. As a result, Allen is now one of the largest property lease-holders at the airport, controlling about 10 acres.

Adding the cost of building his own hangar to the lease payments, Allen is spending upwards of $10 million on property he doesn’t own and improvements that ultimately will revert back to the county, the newspaper said.

An spokeswoman for Allen would confirm only basic information about the purchase and price.