After multiple delays, construction of an Indiana State Police hangar is underway in Greenwood.
The city broke ground on the state police agency’s new hangar Monday morning at the Indy South Greenwood Airport. The project has been in the works for a year and the city is funding it.
ISP has already moved its aviation fleet, SWAT and dive teams from Indianapolis Regional Airport in Mount Comfort. It has been operating out of temporary housing at the Greenwood airport since March.
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Come fall, the teams should have a permanent home in Greenwood, said Greg Wright, city controller.
Initially, city and airport officials wanted to see the new hangar operational by spring. But that didn’t happen.
Construction of the 12,000-square-foot hangar and 4,000 square-feet of office space, which will house 12 to 20 state police employees including a SWAT team, was supposed to start in the spring and be completed by July.
The process was delayed first due to the amount of time it took the legal teams involved to review the contracts, and because steel wasn’t readily available, officials said in March. Now it’s the weather.
“The biggest part of the delay is the wet weather. It’s very difficult to get the concrete for the foundation poured and set with the amount of rain we’ve had the past few months,” Wright said.
Construction is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, he 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 redevelopment commission agreed to spend up to $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.
So far, the city has spent about $744,000 on the steel hangar and foundation, which is well under the $900,000 estimated. Lee Construction and Padgett Construction, Inc. were awarded those contracts. The city will request separate bids for construction of the office space in the next couple weeks, Wrights said.
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.
The state police 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, city officials have said.
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 earlier this year, causing state police to move its aviation operations into temporary hangars and office space at the Indy South Greenwood Airport.
Once the new hangar is built, it will be the largest hangar at the airport.
Greenwood is an ideal location for the aviation department because it allows for quick access to Interstate 65, and because the aircrafts can get anywhere in Indiana in under an hour, ISP Superintendent Doug Carter has said.