Indiana State Police has moved its aviation unit to Greenwood, but construction of the state police agency’s new facilities has fallen behind schedule, city officials said.
Greenwood’s Board of Aviation Commissioners on Thursday approved a construction contract with Lee Construction, of Gary, for $709,900 to build a 12,000-square-foot steel hangar at the Indy South Greenwood Airport. The board chose between three bids for the project. The city’s estimate for the work was $950,000.
Another request for bids will go out in the coming weeks for construction of the 4,000 square-feet of office space, which will house 12 to 20 state police employees, including a SWAT team. Construction of both is expected to begin this spring and be completed by July, said Greg Wright, city controller.
The process was delayed due to the amount of time it took all the legal teams involved to review the contracts, and because steel isn’t readily available right now, Wright said.
The city agreed to build the new airport hangar and office space for the state police aviation department last year. Several aircrafts will be housed at the hangar, which will be located south of the main hangar on the airport’s property off County Line Road and Emerson Avenue.
The Greenwood Redevelopment Commission 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. Indiana State Police is not paying any of the upfront construction costs.
Instead, 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 beyond that, they said previously.
The city will own and operate the hangar. The city designed the lease to recapture the costs of building the hangar over about 48 years.
The lease will also require payment of $2,500 a year in maintenance costs, Wright said previously.
The state police’s move to Greenwood will also increase fuel sales at the airport significantly and make the airport eligible for more grants. Eligibility is often based on the number of takeoffs and landings, Greg Wright said.
City and airport officials have been in talks with ISP since last summer and wanted to see the new hangar operational by spring.
ISP’s aviation department was located at the Indianapolis International Airport until 2014, when it moved to Mount Comfort, east of Indianapolis.
That lease ended last month, causing state police to move its aviation operations into temporary hangars and office space at the Indy South Greenwood Airport for about five months, Wright said.
"It’s pretty spread out, but we made sure they got everything they needed," Wright said.
Two drug intervention aircrafts, which aren’t used during the winter months, were stowed away in hangars that aren’t easily accessible, he said.
Once the new hangar is built later this year, it will be the largest of 87 hangars at the airport. Eight of the hangars are for corporate use.
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Here is a look at the timeline for Indiana State Police Aviation Department’s move to the Indy South Greenwood Airport.
June 2018: Conversations begin between city and state police agency
November 2018: City announces partnership and says it plans to build new hangar for police at local airport
November 2018: Redevelopment Commission approves spending $1.2 million out of the Eastside TIF to pay for the airport hangar and office space, which the state police will lease from the city
February 2019: State police moves into temporary hangars, office space at airport
March 2019: Board of Aviation Commissioners awards construction contract for hangar
April 2019: Board of Aviation Commissioners expected to award construction contract for office building
July 2019: Construction should be complete
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