Indiana State Police will soon have a major presence in Greenwood.
The city has agreed to build a new airport hangar and office space at the Indy South Airport that will be used by the statewide police force’s aviation department.
Several aircrafts — from SWAT helicopters to jets — will be housed at the hangar, located south of the main hangar on the airport’s property off County Line Road and Emerson Avenue. The 12,000 square-foot hangar, which the city has agreed to build as part of a long-term lease agreement with ISP, will also include 4,000 square feet of office space for the ISP aviation department.
The Greenwood Redevelopment Commission has agreed to spend nearly $1.2 million to build the hangar, which is expected to cost a total of $2.5 million. About $1.3 million is available from funds already dedicated to airport improvement projects.
State police will lease the hangar from the city for about $5,000 a month. The initial lease is for six years, but both the city and ISP expect the partnership to extend well beyond that, they said.
ISP’s aviation department was located at the Indianapolis International Airport until 2014, when they entered into a four-year lease in Mount Comfort, east of Indianapolis. Officials considered extending that lease, but once they started looking at Greenwood as an option, it made the decision to move easy, ISP Superintendent Doug Carter said.
“Gosh, comparing the two, it was very simple to me,” Carter said.
The Indy South airport will serve as an ideal centralized location for the police force. From Greenwood, the aircrafts can get anywhere in Indiana in under an hour, he said.
Three SWAT teams will work out of the hangar.
“There will be a lot of activity in and out of the airport,” Carter said.
The redevelopment commission unanimously approved funding for the project.
“I think this is a great addition to the community in many different ways. We will have a state police presence here,” president Brent Tilson said.
