Airport seeking bids for trailers

Spokane Airport officials have spent more than $725,000 to buy the land and 15 trailers that once were the Shady Pines Trailer Park. Now they’re inviting public bids for the trailers and asking the winning buyer to haul them away.

The airport has set a Sept. 15 deadline for bidders to buy the trailers that still sit on about 12 acres along Geiger Boulevard on the southwest edge of the main runway.

The airport bought the land and most of the trailers in late 2004. The land, plus two adjacent businesses, falls within the airport runway protection zone. As part of its 20-year master plan, airport officials are removing any residences or other non-allowed buildings in that land near its two runways.

The airport paid about $587,000 for the land and about $138,000 to acquire the trailers and to move the former residents to new lodgings, said Mark Jucht, the airport’s deputy director.

Some of the $138,000 includes the cost of moving personal belongings and paying two months’ rent for the trailer residents who were moved, said Jucht. The rental obligation comes from federal regulations regarding land acquisitions by airports, he added.

The bid requires the winning buyer to take the trailers in as-is condition and haul them away. Jucht had no way to estimate the trailers’ total value.

“I wouldn’t want to venture a guess,” he said.

Three of the newer trailers are in good enough condition to continue being used; the newest trailer, in fact, cost the airport about $26,900, Jucht said.

The least expensive trailer cost the airport about $1,600. The 12 older trailers are not worth saving, Jucht said.

Those older trailers might still be worth buying because they contain steel, iron and copper that could be sold to recyclers. “We want someone to give us their best proposal and test the market,” said Jucht.

Officials know the bid price won’t come close to covering the $725,000 they’ve spent to date on the trailer park, said Jucht. The major cost was the land and “now that we have it, we’re not going to sell it,” he said.

The trailer park also includes a wooden duplex that is not part of the sale. It will be razed next year, as will two adjoining buildings purchased by the airport. Those belonged to Texas Auto Sales and Hoovestol Trucking, just to the north of the trailer park along Geiger.

Hoovestol is out of business, but Texas Auto Sales owner Mark Williams relocated his used-car lot to Highway 2.