Fort Bend County Condos for the Small Plane Set

Why would a couple of Bellaire Realtors want to build new hangar condos out by the Houston-Southwest Airport in Arcola? Because the hangar rental market there sucks, apparently.

With an option on a 60-year ground lease with the airport — near the intersection of Almeda and Highway 6 in Fort Bend County — owners Curtis Lawson and Ryan Dodds of CityLife Realty are now marketing 27 units in the Southwest Executive Hangars, featuring “75,000 square feet of hangarage” in 2 box-shaped buildings.

But this place isn’t just for storage and maintenance. There’s also that hangar condo lifestyle:

***

Building B will also house the Lazy Eights Lounge, our members-only clubhouse. It will feature a kitchen, bar, dining area, TV area with satellite TV and video library, flight planning room with computers and printer, conference room, restrooms with showers, and a game area with a pool table and ping pong table. You may reserve the clubhouse for private parties, corporate meetings, and more for only a cleaning charge!

A 40-ft. x 40-ft. hangar will cost $120K. The largest size, a 4,200 sq. ft. model with an attached 1,200-sq.-ft. office, will cost you $355K.

Images: Aviation Ventures

11 Comment

  • That’s just a little odd, but interesting. REminds me of the Hangar Hotel in Fredericksburg, which has a fantastic little bar. Not exactly the same concept, but in the same vein. It’s a cool place to check out if you’re up that way: http://www.hangarhotel.com/

    There’s a lot of empty space in the warehouses around Hobby these days. There used to be a courier service running out of the private jet/heliport on the South side of the airport which appears to no longer be there. Likewise, there was a flight school that appears to be gone as well. I know the private jet industry is hurting, and if the vacancies around Hobby are any indication, related businesses are too…

  • “Hangarage”???

  • Thanks to the president and congress, thousands of jobs manufacturing small planes are disappearing. On top of that, many small airports are subsequently going to get hurt in the process.

    It’s easy to criticize corporate types for flying company jets and having big salaries, but those things allow them to operate more efficiently and allow the business to hire more people.

    I’m glad this airport is trying to adapt to the times.

  • And how exactly do you hang this on Obama???
    Get a life….and some real world perspective.

  • Who said I’m just blaming Obama? It was our President and people in both parties in Congress who jumped on the bandwagon criticizing a non-issue of corporate jets to score political points.

    Words have consequences though. Because of the perceived backlash, an entire factory has shut down in Oregon laying off 20,000 people because of canceled small jet orders. Companies didn’t want the “appearance” of wasting money, so they just canceled orders for the jets.

    It’s no difference than the false scare over the swine flu and bird flu causing a backlash in the pork and poultry industry.

  • kjb434, while the “appearance” of wasting money I’m sure is a contributor to the airplane manufacturer’s demise. Everyone is cutting back or delaying big ticket purchases. Every industry that manufactures big ticket items has seen decline, e.g. the auto industry. When companies need to cut costs they stop wasting money (big surprise).

    I’m an independent, but to pin this on Obama and Congress is an ignorant stretch.

  • Wagner and Nardelli arriving before Congress in private jets was the worst possible PR move…wasteful or not. One was fired and the other soon to be in bankruptcy….Karma?
    Yup!
    Obama?
    No!

  • Tex,

    Bad PR? Yes. Wrong? No.

    Politics in Washington is playing the class warfare game. Anybody running a company or has money is being portrayed as evil and corrupt.

    P.S. The CEO was fired by the Obama administration.

  • I wonder when President Obama is going to ground Air Force One and travel via hybrid vehicle.

    I wonder when congress is going to quit taking multiple luxury vacations every year under the guise of government business.

    Just wondering.

  • Corporate jet manufacturers are seeing less business because corporations are cutting back on expenses. Many corporations have cut not only private jet tavel but also travel of all kinds along with any other expenses that can be considered non-essential.

    In terms of Air Force1 the same argument came up regarding use of the royal flight in the UK. Once the secuity and logistics costs of ground transportation are factored in, along with the secondary costs caused by the disruption of a passing motorcade it is very easy to justify flying a head of state to their destination versus any other mode of transportation.

  • Similar and equally compelling “Cost/Benefit arguments can be made for Executive Management of multi billion dollar corporations, so why did congress get on a high horse when they are the biggest hypocrits in the country. Their actions contributed to the exacerbation of economic decline in the US while at the same time they are abusing the priviledges of their office.