Private hangars taking off in LV

By Richard N. Velotta (contact)

Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2004 | 10:47 a.m.

Private jet hangars will be popping up along the west side of McCarran International Airport as demand builds for shelter for large corporate aircraft and the last land on the airport periphery is leased.

Casino executives Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson are building hangars for their Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Las Vegas Sands corporate jets, and a private hangar complex will soon be under way on one of the last parcels designated for that purpose at McCarran.

McCarran officials have encouraged general aviation pilots to park their planes at Henderson Executive Airport and North Las Vegas Airport.

But the hangars going in at McCarran are large enough to accommodate the largest corporate jets, which would be too big for Henderson.

"When you get to the largest corporate jets, like the Boeing business jets, we're talking about a plane that's not too much smaller than a (Boeing) 737," said Randy Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation.

The 737 is the most popular jet in use at McCarran and is the workhorse of the commercial fleet flown by Southwest Airlines.

The newest private jet hangar complex is planned on Hacienda Avenue east of Las Vegas Boulevard South.

Utility preparations are under way and heavy asphalt to support aircraft weight will soon be poured on the Paradise Aviation Jet Hangars, a $25 million project being built by a division of the Molasky Group of Cos.

"The facades are going to be gorgeous," said owner Irwin Molasky. "They'll have some nice state-of-the-art features."

The hangars, which also will have executive office space, will have sliding aircraft doors, skylights and heating and cooling system to protect aircraft from the weather.

The complex is being built in two phases, with four or five hangars due to open in August and three or four more by October.

"These are going to be larger than anything out there," Molasky said, "capable of handling (Gulfstream) G-4s and G-5s and other large corporate jets."

Molasky said 90 percent of the project has been sold to local corporations. He would not disclose the names of the companies that will be in the Paradise Aviation hangars.

Tenants buy into the project in the same way that a homeowner acquires a condominium. Space owners join a type of homeowners association that will handle maintenance.

Molasky said the 10 acres on which the Paradise Aviation hangars are being built is the last acreage the Clark County Department of Aviation has designated for hangars at McCarran.

Walker said demand for aircraft hangars has increased as McCarran land becomes scarce and improvements occur at the Henderson airport.

"We're getting a lot more inquiries than we've had before," Walker said. "Now that the new runways are in at Henderson, we're seeing more interest from pilots to have something out there."

In addition to the Paradise Aviation hangars, Walker said McCarran fixed-base operators Signature Flight Support and Eagle Aviation Resources have parcels for large hangars.

"We've master-planned the airport to focus on commercial aviation to the east and general aviation uses along the west," Walker said. "That's where Signature and Eagle, and now Paradise are located."

Molasky's hangar leases with McCarran cost his company $28,143 per month plus a 5-cents-a-gallon fuel storage fee. The Wynn and Sands hangars have yet to be built, but through a sublease, their airport rental costs would be 75 cents a square foot, according to a McCarran spokeswoman.