Flying high

Riding the momentum of Boom Supersonic, Piedmont Triad Airport Authority is hearing from an increasing number of potential tenants for 1,000 acres of property primed for development

by CHRIS BURRITT

NW GREENSBORO – As part of its courtship of Boom Supersonic, the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority covered a wall in its boardroom with a sweeping aerial view of the airport’s property.

Almost every day, the photograph dating back to 2021 becomes even more outdated.

The image doesn’t show the gravel footprint where earth-moving equipment is preparing 62 acres on which Boom Supersonic plans to erect a $500 million jet factory and eventually employ 2,400 people.

It also doesn’t show the start of construction of a public road that will open Piedmont Triad International (PTI) Airport’s property on both sides of Interstate 73 to motorists. Eventually entering the airport’s property from Regional, Old Oak Ridge and Pleasant Ridge roads, the road will carry employees of Boom Supersonic and new aviation companies that Triad economic development officials are recruiting.

A new bridge is under construction for vehicles to travel across the highway. Nearby, a bridge for airplanes is already complete, waiting for the arrival of aviation tenants on hundreds of acres slated for development.

“If all goes to plan, it’s going to be a site employing thousands of people in the aerospace industry, probably building airplanes or maintaining them,” said Kevin Baker, the authority’s executive director, who’s been talking to an increasing number of companies since Boom Supersonic’s announcement in January 2021. “It’s wide open.”

One afternoon last week, Baker orchestrated an overhead projector in the boardroom, moving potential factory sites around 1,000 acres on both sides of I-73 being readied for aviation companies engaged in manufacturing, rebuilding and maintaining planes.

In recent years, the authority has acquired office space and is considering buying more buildings accessible from Regional Road. Vacant space could provide administrative or engineering offices for manufacturing or maintenance facilities at the airport.

“One of our major roles here now is making sure we effectively use the properties,” Baker said.

The addition of Boom Supersonic, which plans to start production in 2024, will push employment at the airport past 10,000 jobs. Already, companies including FedEx, Honda leaders in Oak Ridge, Summerfield and Stokesdale about how the creation of thousands of jobs will drive demand for housing and put pressure on roads and schools.

Aircraft Company, HAECO Americas and Cessna employ more than 8,600 people.

One prospective tenant is Marshall Aerospace, a British-based company that’s considering PTI as the site for a $50 million maintenance facility employing as many as 240 people. Earlier this week, the Greensboro City Council approved at least $240,000 in incentives for the company. The county’s Board of Commissioners may grant incentives totaling more than $400,000.

Aviation businesses are also growing in the vicinity of PTI. Earlier this week, TAT Piedmont Aviation Component Services said it will spend more than $13.8 million and create 85 jobs in an expansion of its Cessna Drive facility.

“We view the airport as an economic engine and an economic driver,” said Brian Hall, an Oak Ridge resident who serves as real estate president for Samet Corp.

As an example of PTI’s drawing power, Greensboro-based Samet is seeking manufacturing, industrial and distribution tenants for two 200,000-square-foot buildings recently constructed on N.C. 68 at I-73. Completed in 2021, its first building in the same location is leased.

“People living closest to the airport are going to be greatly impacted,” said Patti Stokes, owner of PS Communications and publisher and editor of the Northwest Observer. “And the towns of Summerfield, Stokesdale and Oak Ridge are going to be impacted as well. People who come to work at one of these airport businesses will want to live in our little towns – which eventually won’t be so little.”

Economic development around the airport is also playing into debate over efforts by Summerfield landowner David Couch to de-annex his 973 acres in the town.

As he weighs whether to support de-annexation legislation, state Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said last month he believes Summerfield Town Council needs to increase housing options.

He referred to Summerfield as “a community that is surrounded by billions of dollars in economic development. As our area continues to grow, additional housing is urgently needed so the nurses, teachers, first responders, and construction workers our area relies on can live in the places they serve.”

PTI’s Baker said more than a decade of preparation for economic development has put the airport in expansion mode.

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On the other hand, as the airport acquires land for its expansion, it’s bumping against residential areas, including the Cardinal subdivision, along Old Oak Ridge and Pleasant Ridge roads. The impact reaches even further, drawing concern from

“Our goal is to grow,” he said. “Will there be an additional 30,000 jobs in 10 years or 15 years? I don’t know. These things take time to develop. But 50 years from now, it’s very likely.”