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Hangar survey and discussion

rv6n6r

rv6n6r

Well Known Member
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Heads up about an AOPA hangar survey, https://aopa.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9ELt0GhKZIteD7o.

I am fortunate to have a really nice box hangar, but I'm very keen on getting more of them at our airport. We have only 5 hangars (privately owned/leased land) = 5 based aircraft, and that puts the airport below the 10 based aircraft eligibility level for NPIAS airport grants. Without that, the long-term future of the airport is very much at stake. We get plenty of inquiries and have a wait list but there's little turnover in our few hangar bays. The city might be able to get some kind of grant for it but they're lukewarm at best about being a hangar landlord. I'm willing to participate and invest and I'm sure I could find other investors, but I'm not able to take on the whole project. I would welcome any input on how to find hangar developers interested in putting up another bank. We have space for 5-7 bays.

PS. How is this RV-related? Well, four of our existing five hangar bays have RVs in them :)
 
rv6n6r said:
I'm willing to participate and invest and I'm sure I could find other investors, but I'm not able to take on the whole project. I would welcome any input on how to find hangar developers interested in putting up another bank. We have space for 5-7 bays.
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This subject comes up from time to time. The numbers just don’t add up for private developers. As an example, Industrial lease rates haven’t moved much in most markets for many years, are low, and still better than what you can garner in a hangar lease. The cost to build an average box hangar with climate control, insulation, nice apron, etc… was around $75-100/sqft in my area four years ago. I migbt have been able to break even on selling one outright, but if you have to sit on it for long, you’re going backwards.
Without government funding, it just doesn’t pencil as an investment. I spent about $5k on a study when I built my hangar and while there was some economy of scale in building multiple units under one roof, it was minimal in the overall scope. I built mine and stopped at that.
 
Survey done. Colorado is a mess. Good luck finding a hangar for less than $250K or many years of waiting for a municipal. Someone offered me a new box hangar for $500K not long ago. Said I could get five airplanes in it. Ok, how much do I have to rent to the other four just to pay the mortgage? Ouch. No thanks.

Don't get me started on all the RVs and businesses in hangars. They try to stay under the radar, but driving around, you see them.

Most airports are discouraging GA. They want the big jet pocket books. As others mentioned, private development is not profitable. The municipalities want full utilities in the hangars and tap fees alone make it untenable.

FNL tried to evict 40 tenets a few years ago so they could bull doze and build a nice new terminal. Needless to say the meetings were quite entertaining. Ultimately they gave in and repaired the hangars, but it won't be long. Recent sales are in the $250K range with less than 15 years on the land lease. I suspect the owners are in for a big surprise when the land lease is up for renewal.
 
The method with the last project was to figure out costs and set a price, then get deposits on most or all units before starting. If the deposits aren't there then there's no project (though you are out the project planning costs). I am cautiously optimistic the demand is there however, even with a pretty high anticipated cost.

I'm acquainted with most of the players in the city and I participated peripherally in the last project, and I wouldn't anticipate any fights other than code compliance which I very well know can be daunting.

At any rate the original question still stands - are there hangar developers out there, and how to find them?
 
Thor RV10 said:
I built 56 T hangars at Arlington, Wa KAWO because i wanted to, but its a terrible investment for the builder, especially if the city fights you once you are well into it.
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We are currently at KPAE and had an airplane at KAWO some years back for around 12-years. I think we looked at your new T-hangars on the south side of the field after they were completed -- very nice! I know that it might not have been the most stellar investment, but we thank you VERY MUCH for doing that -- hangars are greatly needed in the North Puget Sound area! Paine Field (KPAE - home of Boeing) seems to not be interested anymore in building GA hangars even though there are nearly 600 GA aircraft based there. And, with commercial airline service since 2019 (Alaska and Frontier), things have really changed along with the mindset of airport management and Snohomish county officials. We are still thinking about moving back to KAWO now that my wife and I have retired. KAWO is a wonderful GA airport to fly out of, and has a very nice little cafe, too (Ellie's At The Airport)! We have many fond memories of Arlington! (y):cool:(y)
 
rv6n6r said:
At any rate the original question still stands - are there hangar developers out there, and how to find them?
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I can guide you to some resources and assist with costing if that would help. Actual “hangar developers” don’t exist as far as I know. Hangars are simple industrial buildings and have pretty basic site requirements and engineering. The metal building manufacturers provide all of the structural engineering, foundation, etc…. Finding an erector proved way more challenging in our area.
There is an “airport” developer in Tualatin, they did Bob Starks hangars some time ago. They did my “study”. However, they wanted $1M to build my hangar which I built for less than 1/3 of that.
You have my email if you want to take this offline, or keep the discussion here if you like.
 
When the time comes, you can design up a hangar, get a price and print out plans without talking with anyone. rapidsetbuildings.com red button on the top gets you to the design system. Once there the video will walk you though how to do it. Otherwise just call and we'll design a hangar for you, no cost. 719-268-1325 We've sold 1,000's of buildings in 49 states and around the world.
 
rv6n6r said:
At any rate the original question still stands - are there hangar developers out there, and how to find them?
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I know serval in the Puget Sound area, and my advise is to find someone who has built hangars before because they are specialized construction projects. Dealing with city and/or county officials, FAA and people who live around the airport area can present hidden surprises, extra costs and unforeseen delays. I attend all the Paine Field (KPAE) airport commission meetings and see that airport construction projects are an "entirely different world" than most other industrial construction projects.
 
FYI. Here at FOK (Long Island, N.Y.) there are hangars going up. It took about 4 years to get the county approval. Being on County property, they have to be built with "prevailing wages" workers. With that and the high cost of steel now, the price for a 52X65 hanger is gonna be well north of $800K, plus yearly land rents and fees. And the county land lease is for 30 years, so they can take them after that. (northsidefok.com)
 
RV-9erA said:
I know serval in the Puget Sound area, and my advise is to find someone who has built hangars before because they are specialized construction projects. Dealing with city and/or county officials, FAA and people who live around the airport area can present hidden surprises, extra costs and unforeseen delays. I attend all the Paine Field (KPAE) airport commission meetings and see that airport construction projects are an "entirely different world" than most other industrial construction projects.
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There’s noting special about the construction. They are simple industrial buildings. However, I could see the politics getting in the way.
I had approvals and permits within a few weeks but I built on a taxiway that was just outside the FAA controlled portion of the field. Big difference.
 
Down here in South Florida we're paying $1200 / mo and up for T-hangars, and there's a year long waiting list. Most of the airports are pretty much built out, and the smaller GA airports are facing local pressure from the increased use from all of the flight schools running 14 hours a day.
 
Gino230 said:
Down here in South Florida we're paying $1200 / mo and up for T-hangars, and there's a year long waiting list. Most of the airports are pretty much built out, and the smaller GA airports are facing local pressure from the increased use from all of the flight schools running 14 hours a day.
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We have space for one more hangar bank of 5-7 bays. To get down to the nuts and bolts of it, if someone took on a project to build a new bank here at 56S (Seaside, OR), and wanted to recover the costs plus a reasonable profit I would expect them to go for between $200K and $300K for a 45' x 35' box hangar with bifold doors, concrete floor, electricity, water and sewer. Hangars would be owned but on leased airport land (30-50 year lease) with insurance costs & lease payment dues at around $1500/yr. Seems like a bargain considering what I'm hearing. Any takers?
 
My mortgage is $300k. Now add a $300k hangar. Now add $300k for the RV14/10/whatever - and it becomes evident why flying has become a rich man’s hobby. Only those who could afford a second or even third home qualify. The traditional one-home, 2-car middle class family is priced out. If I hadn’t started long ago, and didn’t live in cheapsville Indiana, there is no way I could justify flying.

Back to the OP - there is no value to an investor or developer in hangars. One t-hangar is about equivalent of 5 storage units that rent individually for the price of the entire hangar. No FAA or other governmental red tape and no land leases. You would be financially foolish to get involved in hangar building. Build a U-Store-It and make 3-5 times more off your investment for a lot least headache.

And if you walk the hangar line you will understand. In many cases hangar tenants are using them as u-store because of that very issue. The hangar is cheaper storage than the self storage unit down the road.
 
I live at an airpark and my hangar is a few steps from the house. This is really living the dream. For planning ahead however I have been looking for hangar space in Louisiana and Colorado. Louisiana has some options, but all involve a heathy drive. Colorado is all in the “if you don’t know someone, give up” category.

I suggest anyone who is wiling to move look first at airparks. My study shows you get the biggest bang for the buck. My airpark (VA42) allowed for me to still work (downtown DC), committing on a train each day to eliminate the road rage stress. We have several airline pilots living here and flying out of IAD and DC.

There is one home and hangar for sale right now.

Carl
 
A guy have met a few times, but don't know well, has built twelve 60' box hangars, 2 rows of 6, at our airport. The going rate right know for similar hangars is between $4k and $6k per month. He expects he will lease every one of those hangars pretty quickly. And he is pretty well know to be a sharp businessman. Meanwhile, there's a waiting list for small basic T-hangars. The problem is that they cannot build small cheap T-hangars anymore. Every one must comply with building codes down to insulation, explosion proof lighting and sprinkler systems and especially the very expensive ground work required to build slab-on-grade. Seems like we ought to have the option for just a simple shed. But everything has to be space-shuttle quality now.
 
meloosifah said:
My mortgage is $300k. Now add a $300k hangar. Now add $300k for the RV14/10/whatever - and it becomes evident why flying has become a rich man’s hobby. Only those who could afford a second or even third home qualify. The traditional one-home, 2-car middle class family is priced out. If I hadn’t started long ago, and didn’t live in cheapsville Indiana, there is no way I could justify flying.

Back to the OP - there is no value to an investor or developer in hangars. One t-hangar is about equivalent of 5 storage units that rent individually for the price of the entire hangar. No FAA or other governmental red tape and no land leases. You would be financially foolish to get involved in hangar building. Build a U-Store-It and make 3-5 times more off your investment for a lot least headache.

And if you walk the hangar line you will understand. In many cases hangar tenants are using them as u-store because of that very issue. The hangar is cheaper storage than the self storage unit down the road.
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100%
My self storage units cost about the same to build as my hangar, I take up 1/3 of it as my personal “garage” and I still returned my investment in three years, less original cost of the land. It’s climate controlled and dehumidified to boot. You can’t do that with most any industrial building let alone a hangar.
 
N804RV said:
A guy have met a few times, but don't know well, has built twelve 60' box hangars, 2 rows of 6, at our airport. The going rate right know for similar hangars is between $4k and $6k per month. He expects he will lease every one of those hangars pretty quickly. And he is pretty well know to be a sharp businessman. Meanwhile, there's a waiting list for small basic T-hangars. The problem is that they cannot build small cheap T-hangars anymore. Every one must comply with building codes down to insulation, explosion proof lighting and sprinkler systems and especially the very expensive ground work required to build slab-on-grade. Seems like we ought to have the option for just a simple shed. But everything has to be space-shuttle quality now.
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Someone smoking something up there in Washington. Explosion proof lighting isn’t an NEC requirement for hangars nor are firewalls in most cases. However, I don’t disagree. You can’t just build a simple storage space for airplanes in most jurisdictions anymore. They are full fledged industrial buildings.
 
The lack of hangars is wild. Here is an interesting question for you guys. I’ve noticed at several airports that there are many hangars that have aircraft in them that haven’t flown or even anyone has stepped in in quite some time. What are your thoughts on airports instituting some sort of inspection or flight time requirement for hangar usage with a waiver for repair or building of aircraft. It may not solve the issue but I’d bet it would free up quite a few T hangars.
 
JeremyL said:
What are your thoughts on airports instituting some sort of inspection or flight time requirement for hangar usage with a waiver for repair or building of aircraft
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27K in Georgetown, KY has done something like this. As one would expect this method, too, has inherent issues. Unless the guidelines are published then hangar assignments become a "who you know" situation.

At 27K a retired big tech executive who is married to someone from small town Kentucky left Silicon Valley upon retirement and moved to Georgetown bringing his multi-million dollar collection of aircraft with him. Being a big time executive he was an easy placement onto the airport board. It didn't take him six months to outrank and overpower everyone else on the board and 27K has become his own little kingdom. He forced a small charter operator with a Citation and a King Air out of their long-term large box hangar into the community hangar so he could have a private hangar for his aircraft. The hangar waitlist (that I was next to get placement after 3 years and 6 months on the list) was immediately discarded and to get a hangar someone needs to own a late model very expensive airplane and promise to purchase large amounts of fuel. If you have a 50 year old Cardinal or a 60 year old Cub then give up the dream of having a hangar there. An experimental? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA go away poor aviator; you are not welcome here.
 
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JeremyL said:
The lack of hangars is wild. Here is an interesting question for you guys. I’ve noticed at several airports that there are many hangars that have aircraft in them that haven’t flown or even anyone has stepped in in quite some time. What are your thoughts on airports instituting some sort of inspection or flight time requirement for hangar usage with a waiver for repair or building of aircraft. It may not solve the issue but I’d bet it would free up quite a few T hangars.
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flying. GXY talked about it. It's in lease agreements. Problem is zero enforcement. I was at my hangar every day of the last six months before she was finished. I can tell you which doors opened during that time. Less than 1/2 dozen on the three rows I can see. Pretty bad. No idea what is in the others, but it ain't flyin'.
 
If anyone reading this has any say in crafting local airport hangar rules, you might want to put wording in to cover the following, which seems to avoid the original intent;

Storing a single !!small!! N registered UAS in each hangar, or large hangar complex, and using the other 99.99% of the hangar, or numerous hangars, for storage...
 
JeremyL said:
The lack of hangars is wild. Here is an interesting question for you guys. I’ve noticed at several airports that there are many hangars that have aircraft in them that haven’t flown or even anyone has stepped in in quite some time. What are your thoughts on airports instituting some sort of inspection or flight time requirement for hangar usage with a waiver for repair or building of aircraft. It may not solve the issue but I’d bet it would free up quite a few T hangars.
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At KSVR (SLC, UT GA reliever airport) they require proof of airworthiness however waitlists remain multi-year. Fortunately for me I became a tenant in 2008 and strictly follow the stipulations to keep my lease. Billions of $'s devoted to the Class B KSLC but pennies for GA. Pointed that out in my survey response to AOPA for what it's worth.
 
RogerH said:
At KSVR (SLC, UT GA reliever airport) they require proof of airworthiness however waitlists remain multi-year. Fortunately for me I became a tenant in 2008 and strictly follow the stipulations to keep my lease. Billions of $'s devoted to the Class B KSLC but pennies for GA. Pointed that out in my survey response to AOPA for what it's worth.
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I would have had to sell. No place to assemble. How does that work?
 
Amadeus said:
27K in Georgetown, KY has done something like this. As one would expect this method, too, has inherent issues. Unless the guidelines are published then hangar assignments become a "who you know" situation.

At 27K a retired big tech executive who is married to someone from small town Kentucky left Silicone Valley upon retirement and moved to Georgetown bringing his multi-million dollar collection of aircraft with him. Being a big time executive he was an easy placement onto the airport board. It didn't take him six months to outrank and overpower everyone else on the board and 27K has become his own little kingdom. He forced a small charter operator with a Citation and a King Air out of their long-term large box hangar into the community hangar so he could have a private hangar for his aircraft. The hangar waitlist (that I was next to get placement after 3 years and 6 months on the list) was immediately discarded and to get a hangar someone needs to own a late model very expensive airplane and promise to purchase large amounts of fuel. If you have a 50 year old Cardinal or a 60 year old Cub then give up the dream of having a hangar there. An experimental? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA go away poor aviator; you are not welcome here.
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This is sad but i have heard of similar happening which ended in lawsuits and the big headed folks getting booted
 
wirejock said:
I can tell you which doors opened during that time. Less than 1/2 dozen on the three rows I can see. Pretty bad. No idea what is in the others, but it ain't flyin'.
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I feel bad saying this, but a lot of people run out of money, lose interest, or age out of flying without admitting to themselves they should have sold their plane years ago. I get it - it's an emotional attachment thing. Or they are unwilling to believe that the plane that's been sitting for 5-10 years is now essentially worthless. But every airport has it in plain view at the tiedowns. Hulks that haven't moved in a decade. The ones in hangars are hidden away, but they're still there.

I even saw a 9A at a tiedown that according to ADS-B Exchange was making one flight a year, tops. I almost tried to contact the guy to see if I could buy it, but I assumed time had already taken its toll and there's no way he would have parted with it for what I felt it was worth.

It's a tragedy that these planes are dying from disuse while everyone else gets locked out of a place to put their still-enjoyed airplane.
 
wirejock said:
flying. GXY talked about it. It's in lease agreements. Problem is zero enforcement. I was at my hangar every day of the last six months before she was finished. I can tell you which doors opened during that time. Less than 1/2 dozen on the three rows I can see. Pretty bad. No idea what is in the others, but it ain't flyin'.
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Agreed, I have noticed the same. Very few hangars are frequently opening. I’d think if they had some sort of flight hour requirement per year that would help because hey, that’s what buys fuel… flying aircraft
 
wirejock said:
I would have had to sell. No place to assemble. How does that work?
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Interestingly, I was once told by the property manager fabrication isn't prohibited,. It's just that after completion the builder is not allowed to fly off hours. You have to disassemble your completed work, trailer to another location, reassemble & fly the initial hours. Given the lack of hangar space in the area it involves relocation far away or paying VERY costly hangar rent at other airports in the vicinity, if you can find it.

Not sure how that's even remotely legal but with the multi-year waitlist leverage they have no one is going to go to court to challenge it. Paraphrasing but something like "nice little hangar lease you have, shame if something would happen to it".
 
The cure may be worse than the symptoms. Raise prices to competitive levels of similar storage options and those that don’t use their hangar for a flying airplane that gets used will be gone. Unfortunately, a T hangar would be $1000/mo, or more, in most markets.

As long as hangars are cheap rent, you’re going to have to enact policy and enforcement to keep non flyers out. That typically hasn’t worked in the past for many reasons.
 
JeremyL said:
The lack of hangars is wild. Here is an interesting question for you guys. I’ve noticed at several airports that there are many hangars that have aircraft in them that haven’t flown or even anyone has stepped in in quite some time. What are your thoughts on airports instituting some sort of inspection or flight time requirement for hangar usage with a waiver for repair or building of aircraft. It may not solve the issue but I’d bet it would free up quite a few T hangars.
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At Paine Field (KPAE) near KSEA, they now require current registrations and aircraft to be in "flying condition". If someone is building an aircraft, overhauling or restoring one, they need to show progress towards completion. Signs of non compliance are flat tires for example. That has freed-up some T-hangars at KPAE, but there's still a 2-year waiting list. New hangars are still badly needed, but the county is unwilling given the investment vs return of building new hangars.
 
JonJay said:
The cure may be worse than the symptoms. Raise prices to competitive levels of similar storage options and those that don’t use their hangar for a flying airplane that gets used will be gone. Unfortunately, a T hangar would be $1000/mo, or more, in most markets.

As long as hangars are cheap rent, you’re going to have to enact policy and enforcement to keep non flyers out. That typically hasn’t worked in the past for many reasons.
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I believe it’s illegal to not use it for aviation and or aircraft.
 
JeremyL said:
I believe it’s illegal to not use it for aviation and or aircraft.
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If Federal funding is used for the purpose of hangar construction, technically, it’s prohibited. Not necessarily “illegal”, but that’s just mashing up terms on my end.
At our airport, most of the hangars are outside the FAA “envelope” and not built with fed money. They are part of the “industrial park”.
So, depends on your circumstances.
 
RogerH said:
Interestingly, I was once told by the property manager fabrication isn't prohibited,. It's just that after completion the builder is not allowed to fly off hours. You have to disassemble your completed work, trailer to another location, reassemble & fly the initial hours. Given the lack of hangar space in the area it involves relocation far away or paying VERY costly hangar rent at other airports in the vicinity, if you can find it.

Not sure how that's even remotely legal but with the multi-year waitlist leverage they have no one is going to go to court to challenge it. Paraphrasing but something like "nice little hangar lease you have, shame if something would happen to it".
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"told by the property manager"... it would be enlightening to see that lease wording. It's hard to imagine how usage of an airworthy aircraft could be controlled in a hangar agreement. And also a violation of FAA policy at least from my reading of their hangar use and airport public use requirements. Assuming this is a federally funded public use airport that is.
 
Carl Froehlich said:
I live at an airpark and my hangar is a few steps from the house. This is really living the dream. For planning ahead however I have been looking for hangar space in Louisiana and Colorado. Louisiana has some options, but all involve a heathy drive. Colorado is all in the “if you don’t know someone, give up” category.

I suggest anyone who is wiling to move look first at airparks. My study shows you get the biggest bang for the buck. My airpark (VA42) allowed for me to still work (downtown DC), committing on a train each day to eliminate the road rage stress. We have several airline pilots living here and flying out of IAD and DC.

There is one home and hangar for sale right now.

Carl
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What part of Louisiana? If you avoid the towered airports, it’s been my impression that land leases are quite cheap. I’m in S central Louisiana, just north of KLFT. I have my own runway and am in the final stages of building a 60’x70’ insulated building (hangar) that’ll run about $200k when completed.
There’s nothing like having a runway and hangar, walking distance from the house, but the comeraderie of an airport hangar community is really nice! Good luck with your search.
 
meloosifah said:
My mortgage is $300k. Now add a $300k hangar. Now add $300k for the RV14/10/whatever - and it becomes evident why flying has become a rich man’s hobby. Only those who could afford a second or even third home qualify. The traditional one-home, 2-car middle class family is priced out. If I hadn’t started long ago, and didn’t live in cheapsville Indiana, there is no way I could justify flying.

Back to the OP - there is no value to an investor or developer in hangars. One t-hangar is about equivalent of 5 storage units that rent individually for the price of the entire hangar. No FAA or other governmental red tape and no land leases. You would be financially foolish to get involved in hangar building. Build a U-Store-It and make 3-5 times more off your investment for a lot least headache.

And if you walk the hangar line you will understand. In many cases hangar tenants are using them as u-store because of that very issue. The hangar is cheaper storage than the self storage unit down the road.
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You are correct. I am into my 56 T hangars at KAWO for well north of 6m, not to mention huge hassles.
 
I actually have the ideal situation. I am at a privately owned, public use airport. There are about 130-150 hangars with probably 80-90% privately owned with leasing the land from airport. Hangars come up fairly regularly for sale with sale prices of maybe several hundred grand for 50x50 hangars and 3-4 times that for 80x80 newer hangars. I bought my hangar with a friend 25 years ago so paid significantly less. (Interesting side note, we bought it from Cliff Robertson, the actor). Everybody has their hangar furnished differently from no improvements to furnaces, to upper deck game rooms with full bathrooms, to full machine shops. There are always spots in hangars available for rent listed on the office bulletin board. Of course it is not cheap with the land lease to the airport, taxes to the city, insurance, and since we are along the Missouri River, we have a levee fee.
Another key feature is the owners of the airport are there every day, airport manager has been manager for 30 years, airport provides a Sunday lunch 52 weeks a year, they host holiday parties and community aviation events. Another words it is a real community, kind of like an Airpark with no one living there. The owners have to fight with the local cities that want to develop the surrounding farm land into warehouses but they have always been very involved to local politics and therefore the airport has survived. One thing that helped is when riverboat gambling was approved in Missouri a big casino went in a couple miles away. The casino wants the airport for getting high rollers to the casino, which actually rarely happens, the best I can tell. Casinos pay lots of taxes and therefore have lots of political clout.
 
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JeremyL said:
The lack of hangars is wild. Here is an interesting question for you guys. I’ve noticed at several airports that there are many hangars that have aircraft in them that haven’t flown or even anyone has stepped in in quite some time. What are your thoughts on airports instituting some sort of inspection or flight time requirement for hangar usage with a waiver for repair or building of aircraft. It may not solve the issue but I’d bet it would free up quite a few T hangars.
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This is true.. I've worked at airports for 45yrs and most have less than 33% hangar capacity in use by active fliers. I hate regulations but we are experiencing a hangar crisis nationwide.
Absolutely give owners time to repair but far too many planes/owners will never fly again
 
bertschb said:
Man, this thread is depressing. I feel very, very lucky to live at an airpark in central Oregon away from congested airspace and government oversight.
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Yes good decision. Municipalities are difficult to deal with sometimes. Especially when a new Mayor is elected and thinks all plane owners are rich
 
JonJay said:
If Federal funding is used for the purpose of hangar construction, technically, it’s prohibited. Not necessarily “illegal”, but that’s just mashing up terms on my end.
At our airport, most of the hangars are outside the FAA “envelope” and not built with fed money. They are part of the “industrial park”.
So, depends on your circumstances.
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The cure may be worse than the symptoms. Raise prices to competitive levels of similar storage options and those that don’t use their hangar for a flying airplane that gets used will be gone. Unfortunately, a T hangar would be $1000/mo, or more, in most markets.

As long as hangars are cheap rent, you’re going to have to enact policy and enforcement to keep non flyers out. That typically hasn’t worked in the past for many reasons.
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I don't think it's prohibited, but it must give way to any aeronautical use. IIRC the grant assurances and FAA rules, if hangars are not being used for aircraft, and there is no demand for them, they can be leased to non-aeronautical users, but have to vacate in 30 days if an aeronautical user shows up and wants it. Further, non-aeronautical users are *supposed* to pay the fair market rate for storage in the area.

Federal Register :: Request Access

www.federalregister.gov www.federalregister.gov

At my airport, in the group of hangars where I'm renting from a private owner (FBO), I'd guess that fully half of them are completely non-aviation stuff...not even pretending to have a flyable aircraft in there. And I'm willing to lay odds they do NOT pay anything other than the same rate that airplane owners pay.
 
RV7A Flyer said:
At my airport, in the group of hangars where I'm renting from a private owner (FBO), I'd guess that fully half of them are completely non-aviation stuff...not even pretending to have a flyable aircraft in there. And I'm willing to lay odds they do NOT pay anything other than the same rate that airplane owners pay.
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Good info.
Same at our airport for the T hangars and no, they’re not paying market rate for sure.
 
My airport, KABI, Abilene,TX has two rows of 10 T-hangars each. The city leases the hangars to our EAA Chapter 471 on a 10-year lease program. The chapter, in turn, sub-leases to members at a prorated rate. For the last three years, my rent has been $795 per year; or $66.25 / mo. The chapter also leases a large hanger that can hold about five planes, give or take on their size. It's a good deal and the city has always been fair with us regarding the hangars. I feel very fortunate, especially hearing some of the stories here on the forum.
 
This very issue kept me out of GA flying for at least the last several years- when I started to consider airplane purchases again, the fixed costs (even tiedown is absurd) made it ridiculous. AT FXE (Fort Lauderdale Exec) they did kick out all of the car hauler trailers, RVs ,etc and made having an actual airplane mandatory. Sheltair bought out all of the hangars and controls everything at FXE and PMP. You can count on one hand the hangar doors I see open (or have ever seen open).

Another issue is that the county stopped giving 99 year leases and now only gives 25 or 30. Much less time to recoup your investment.
 
This one was a real (you know what).
I call Greeley every few months to check my waiting list position. See below. My word against theirs and the staff changes every year or two. So much for a hangar at Greeley.
Edit...I have no idea who altered the list. Could have been anyone with access. The current manager told me the list is as he received it.

-10/15/2024, 11:15 AM, 6m:18s.
-3/14/25, 4:01 PM, 8m:16s. Will told me I was #4 and should get a hangar sometime Summer 2025.
-10/30/2025, 12:57, 2m 51s. New Manager Garrett said I was #14. No idea what happened. Dropped from #4.
 
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