Garco to build new painting hangar

Garco Construction will begin work next month on a hangar at Spokane International Airport big enough to accommodate two 737 aircraft in need of a tune-up and paint job.

The airport board approved the $4.9 million contract Wednesday. Associated Painters Inc. of Everett had signed a 20-year lease for the 41,000-square-foot facility in October.

The lease also includes tarmac space and parking.

Airport spokesman Todd Woodard said seven contractors bid for the job. Garco’s bid was about $1 million below the engineer’s estimate, he said.

The hangar will be paid for with $4 million from the …

Garco Construction will begin work next month on a hangar at Spokane International Airport big enough to accommodate two 737 aircraft in need of a tune-up and paint job.

The airport board approved the $4.9 million contract Wednesday. Associated Painters Inc. of Everett had signed a 20-year lease for the 41,000-square-foot facility in October.

The lease also includes tarmac space and parking.

Airport spokesman Todd Woodard said seven contractors bid for the job. Garco’s bid was about $1 million below the engineer’s estimate, he said.

The hangar will be paid for with $4 million from the Community Economic Revitalization Board, $300,000 from a state Economic Development Strategic Reserve Account, and airport funds.

Associated will occasionally share the hangar with Cascade Aerospace, which last year opened a maintenance operation in a remodeled hangar near the one Associated will occupy.

Woodard said Associated, which is expected to employ about 35 people, should attract more maintenance work to Cascade. There are few aircraft painting facilities in the country, he said, and airlines like the time savings one-stop servicing provides.

The hangar work will coincide with the April start of the second phase of work on the main runway and apron around passenger terminal Concourse B.

The $40 million in improvements, done over two years, was partially funded with $18 million in federal stimulus money.