2. Approval of a Mutual Release and Termination Agreement with AOPA Holdings Corporation concerning a Lease for Space, Facilities and Land at Frederick Municipal Airport
Daniel C. Cross, Cross & Company, LLC, Frederick, was the other competitive bidder for RFP-17-R Land Lease for Northeast Hangar Development in September 2017. As a Frederick business since 1994 and owner of an aircraft at KFDK since 2003, I object to approval of this Release and Termination Agreement. This entire sorry spectacle has turned out predictably:
• A trade association was selected by the City to undertake a real estate development project and then could not perform. Was their selection based upon their being a large employer in the City rather than by their experience to perform a development project? If a development company had been selected, would you let them out of the obligation?
• What marketing was done? I own an aircraft registered with the FAA in Frederick. AOPA never reached out asking if I was interested in leasing one of their new hangars – at any price, so how do they know the math doesn't work? Calls to AOPA asking to be placed on their “I am interested” list were rebuffed, stating the Airport Manager was keeping the list – really?
• There was never an ad in AOPA magazine or website offering hangars – how could there be? How would AOPA explain to their members in any city USA – all of whom also desperately need new hangars – that the they had become a real estate developer at their headquarters instead of backing the process all around the country? I appeared before the AOPA Board of Trustees membership meeting and asked that question. I was told that the Association had a fund of in excess of $100 million so they could certainly spend $19 million at their headquarters airport – what changed?
The City of Frederick Office of Economic Development squandered a unique opportunity to turn KFDK Airport into a center of excellence for business aviation. As the new runway extension is completed, we could have been best positioned to become the business aviation hub for Maryland, providing services to the business aviation community like Leesburg and Manassas do for Northern Virginia. We could have been positioning to cater to the emergence of “flying Uber”, providing home base, electrical power charging, and maintenance and upkeep (read jobs) for the next generation of flying. Instead we are years behind.
AOPA should still pay the City the ground rent due on the leased land until such time in the future as a new project may be selected. Very respectfully, D.C. Cross (CAPT, USN(Ret)), Cross & Company, LLC
Daniel C. Cross, Cross & Company, LLC, Frederick, was the other competitive bidder for RFP-17-R Land Lease for Northeast Hangar Development in September 2017. As a Frederick business since 1994 and owner of an aircraft at KFDK since 2003, I object to approval of this Release and Termination Agreement. This entire sorry spectacle has turned out predictably:
• A trade association was selected by the City to undertake a real estate development project and then could not perform. Was their selection based upon their being a large employer in the City rather than by their experience to perform a development project? If a development company had been selected, would you let them out of the obligation?
• What marketing was done? I own an aircraft registered with the FAA in Frederick. AOPA never reached out asking if I was interested in leasing one of their new hangars – at any price, so how do they know the math doesn't work? Calls to AOPA asking to be placed on their “I am interested” list were rebuffed, stating the Airport Manager was keeping the list – really?
• There was never an ad in AOPA magazine or website offering hangars – how could there be? How would AOPA explain to their members in any city USA – all of whom also desperately need new hangars – that the they had become a real estate developer at their headquarters instead of backing the process all around the country? I appeared before the AOPA Board of Trustees membership meeting and asked that question. I was told that the Association had a fund of in excess of $100 million so they could certainly spend $19 million at their headquarters airport – what changed?
The City of Frederick Office of Economic Development squandered a unique opportunity to turn KFDK Airport into a center of excellence for business aviation. As the new runway extension is completed, we could have been best positioned to become the business aviation hub for Maryland, providing services to the business aviation community like Leesburg and Manassas do for Northern Virginia. We could have been positioning to cater to the emergence of “flying Uber”, providing home base, electrical power charging, and maintenance and upkeep (read jobs) for the next generation of flying. Instead we are years behind.
AOPA should still pay the City the ground rent due on the leased land until such time in the future as a new project may be selected. Very respectfully, D.C. Cross (CAPT, USN(Ret)), Cross & Company, LLC