Construction is underway on a long-awaited cargo warehouse at the north end of the Prince George Airport.
"This is a really an exciting time," said Prince George Airport Authority CEO John Gibson during a media event Wednesday. "It's an integral part of our airport's growth and it's certainly one of the missing links that cargo carriers have told us about.
"With the extended runway, fuel farm, (and) cargo facility complete by the end of this year, we'll be in a good position to start accepting large aircraft."
Scheduled to be completed in November, the facility will cover about 2,300 square metres (25,000 square feet) - about a quarter of the size of the Costco big box store in Prince George.
"It's about as small a facility as we can get and still get the economies of scale out of its construction," Gibson said. "We've still got lots of acreage around us, both on-airport and off-airport, for further expansion."
IDL Projects Inc. is constructing the building which will feature 11 truck doors, three gound-level doors and one ramp accessible door and will be capable of housing just one or several tenants.
Announcements on who will be the tenants will be made as the summer progresses.
So far, the water and storm systems, foundation, perimeter ditching and the pedestals for the ramp are now in place and the building's framework should be on the site by the end of this month and ready for assembly.
The $5.5 million cost is being financed through a bank financial instrument similar to a mortgage, not the airport improvement fees passengers pay to the PGAA, and will eventually be covered by the tenants.
First raised as a goal 10 years ago, Gibson agreed that getting the project off the ground has been a long-time coming. The original intent was to convince a source to build the facility on speculation but "there was no speculative money out there," Gibson said.
"With no speculative money, we couldn't have a 'build it and they will come' project, so it's been working and trying to come up with anchor tenants and some other tenants that we think can fill the 25,000 square feet that it will have.
"We feel we're at the point where we can do that, we're just not in a position to announce who will that be."
In a press release, PGAA cargo business development director Al Ridgway said that "over the years we have met with numerous high profile cargo carriers in Asia; the feedback we've received is they can't operate out of YXS until a cargo warehouse is onsite.
"We look forward to sharing the news with them and continuing to sell Prince George as a competitive viable option."
Initiatives Prince George CEO Heather Oland said the warehouse "will open up export opportunities for local and regional businesses especially for producers of goods which require quick transport to export markets."
Examples raised include live cattle, cherries, and seafood. Producers of industrial goods are also looking for a way to get their items to market, Gibson said.
Oland said the vacancy rate for warehouse space in Prince George stands at just 3.5 per cent.
"That's a very low number and in fact a barrier to business growth," Oland said.
The warehouse will also back onto the north end of the Prince George Global Logistics Park currently under development along Boundary Road.
Harry Backlin, the Prince George land developer who is representing Henry Rempel, the New Westminster businessman who owns about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of the land making up the park, commended the PGAA for taking on the project.
"I think it's a door opener, one that we've been looking forward to," Backlin said.
He said the first phase of the park's development, located at the south end of Boundary Road, will be ready for sale by the end of next week.
Rempel contributed about $6.5 million to the $28 million Boundary Road project, the 6.8-kilometre, two-lane, arterial-grade road connecting Highway 16 East with Highway 97 South.
