MIAMI-Fixed base operator Banyan Air Service has inked a $40 million, 20-year lease with Ave Aviation & Commerce Center, a master-planned business park spanning more than 2.5 million square feet, at the Opa-lock Executive Airport. Banyan will occupy a new 135,000-square-foot facility that will be built-to-suit by Ave developer CPF Investment group.
“After looking at several possibilities at other airports, we concluded that the projected growth at Opa-locka and the opportunity for expansion there within Ave made it the obvious choice for our company,” says Ft. Lauderdale-based Banyan Air Service President Don Campion. “We look forward to the start of construction of our new hangar and maintenance facility in early 2011.”
Banyan’s lease includes 21 acres on the west side of the airport, with direct aircraft access to the runways and taxiways. Banyan will provide comprehensive aviation services including fueling, hangar space, aircraft sales, maintenance, and avionics services at the airport, which is nearing completion of a new 230-foot air traffic control tower to accommodate its growth.
Ernesto Cambo principal of CPF Investment Group, the developer of Ave, tells GlobeSt.com that the Banyan lease is a major milestone for both Ave Aviation & Commerce Center and Opa-locka Executive Airport. With the Banyan lease, Ave is more than 45 percent occupied. The U.S. Postal Service inked a deal in 2007 to build a 500,000-square-foot mail sorting facility.
“USPS has a 40-year deal twice the size of Banyan’s,” says Cambo. “Any CEO who has a plane in South Florida will find this location attractive. There’s the lure of having your plane near your business or your warehouse. We’ve specked our first small bay building with 150,000 square feet we can chop up into 6,000-, 12,000- and 20,000-square feet spaces for companies.”
Bordering Opa-locka Executive Airport along Northwest 57 Avenue just south of the Palmetto Expressway, Ave Aviation & Commerce Center is the result of a long-term land lease from Miami-Dade County through the Miami-Dade Aviation Department. The economic impact of the $250 million business park has been estimated in a study by the Beacon Council to exceed $1 billion, with approximately 3,000 permanent jobs and more than 2.5 million square feet of retail and warehouse facilities as well as aircraft hangars. Ave anticipates completing the entire project by 2015.
Kristen Jurn from KMJ Unlimited, an aviation industry consultancy in Opa-locka, tells GlobeSt.com that Ave has the right formula for an the Opa-locka park. “Opa-locka has a tremendous capability to serve the gross potential that’s forecast in the next coming years within business and personal aviation,” she says. “It is geographically desirable in its proximity to downtown Miami, Coral Gables, the Grove and Miami Beach.”
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