Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 6

199 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 6 GA INESV I LLE MUNI C I PAL A I RPORT and Associates’ work includes designing hangar and building lot layouts, drainage, utilities, as well as runways and taxiways. Construction-wise, there is a planned $4.6 million runway rehabilitation project on tap for one of the two runways at the airport. When the airfield was originally built in World War II, there were four runways, but due to a lack of traffic after the war, the city closed two of the landing strips. Today, runway 18/36 is 6,000 ft by 100 ft, and Runway 13/31 is 4,300 ft. by 75 ft. Gainesville Municipal Airport’s total area is 1,300 acres, making it a significantly large space that gives the city and the airport great opportunities to plan for future business developments. With more people moving into the Gainesville area, space is becoming a very valuable commodity. The main objective is to attract aviation- related businesses. These clients can have vastly different requirements. “You get requests for everything from 200 acres to This development of the airport isn’t over yet, though, as eight hangars are currently in the architecture and engineering stages of planning. Today, there are an estimated 100 or so aircraft on the property and the demand for hangar space is heating up. “We have a waiting list of about 50 people right now,” says Vinton. According to the 2021 Texas Relocation Report released by Texas Realtors, more than 500,000 people moved to Texas in 2019. This influx of people has resulted in more private pilots moving into the area and has further spurred the demand for more hangar space. The growth of the Gainesville Municipal Airport was not a solo effort. For infrastructure work, the management teamed up with the Brenham TX-based engineering firm Strand Associates who are the primary engineers at the airport. Having worked on several projects in the past, the latest initiative involves master planning to allow for the greatest use of the land for the growth of the airport. Strand