Boeing South Yard lands permit for $90 million expansion at Cecil Airport

The project will add a 201,714-square-foot four-bay hangar building for maintenance, repair and overhaul for KC-46A aircraft used to refuel military planes.


A Boeing KC-46A Pegasus is used to refuel other aircraft in flight.
A Boeing KC-46A Pegasus is used to refuel other aircraft in flight.
U.S. Air Force
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The city issued a permit Nov. 12 for a $90 million construction project to develop the Boeing South Yard at 13240 Wing Lane on land leased at Cecil Airport in West Jacksonville.

Jacksonville-based Haskell is the contractor and Indianapolis-based Scannell Properties is the developer of the south yard expansion.

The permit is for a four-bay hangar building of 201,714 square feet on 35.8 acres.

The building will boost The Boeing Co.’s leased space at Cecil Airport in West Jacksonville to more than 1.1 million square feet, at least for now.

Boeing plans to vacate its legacy facilities on the Westside and transition its operations to Cecil Airport.

In December 2020, Boeing and the Jacksonville Aviation Authority announced an agreement for the new hangar and office space at Cecil Airport that eventually will replace the existing Boeing Cecil Field site footprint, although it continues to use that space.

The Boeing South Yard project is at 13240 Wing Lane on land leased at Cecil Airport in West Jacksonville. Plans show the 201,714-square-foot four-bay hangar building on 35.8 acres.

Arlington, Virginia-based Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries.

The Jacksonville Aviation Authority owns and operates Cecil Airport.

The project will consist of a maintenance, repair and overhaul – MRO – facility for KC-46A aircraft.

It includes completion of an off-taxiway concrete apron with four aircraft positions and the pre-engineered fabric membrane hangar.

The Boeing South Yard project is at 13240 Wing Lane at Cecil Airport in West Jacksonville.

JAA Marketing and Public Relations Manager Greg Willis said in June that the authority executed a ground lease in January with Scannell.

Willis said Scannell is working with Boeing to deliver up to 200,000 square feet of additional hangar space to further support the aircraft manufacturer’s MRO operations at Cecil.

The lease is for 20 years and can be extended for a total of 40 years.

That lease says that based on 33.9 acres, the gross rent starts at $369,171 a year and then increases 3% a year for the second through fifth years and 2.25% for years six through 40.

Scannell, who will lease the land from JAA and sublease the property to Boeing, has to spend at least $40 million on the design and construction of the project, the lease says.

Scannell is an Indianapolis-based privately owned commercial real estate development company that specializes in build-to-suit and speculative commercial projects. It has several projects in Northeast Florida. 

The site is to the south of and next to Boeing’s existing Shockwave campus.

Cecil Airport is about 15 miles west of Downtown and is one of JAA’s four airports. The authority considers the facilities as “ideally suited for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations and a variety of aviation-related industrial and commercial development.”

The 201,714-square-foot four-bay hangar building is for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of KC-46A aircraft.


The airport is part of the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field, which closed in 1999. The aviation facilities were transferred to JAA, while the city of Jacksonville owns the industrial property for development with master developer Hillwood as AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center.

JAA says that of the 17,000 acres deeded to the city, 6,000 acres were transferred to JAA to operate as a general aviation reliever airport. JAA also operates Jacksonville International Airport and Craig and Herlong airports.

Cecil Airport has four 200-foot wide runways, with one of them 12,500 feet in length, one of the longest in Florida.



 

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