MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A lease that would move forward on the development of the largest hangar at the Morgantown Municipal Airport has been given the initial green light by the city officials.
The Morgantown City Council unanimously approved the first reading of an agreement between the airport and Shaft Drillers International, where the contracting company based out of Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, will develop a 20,000 square foot hangar to use for aircraft storage. Morgantown Airport Director Jonathan Vrabel presented details on the lease during the council’s regular meeting Tuesday, which included an over $1 million investment into the airport from the company to develop the hangar that will be significantly larger than the record-holding hangar that was formerly used by Mylan Pharmaceuticals.
“This agreement is for a new hangar to be built at the airport,” said Vrabel. “It will be adjacent to the airport rescue, firefighting, and administration building, and it will exceed the size of the former Mylan hangar by 5,000 square feet,” he said.
According to Vrabel, the lease will take place in a 40-year period with Shaft Drillers International paying $11,000 a year to the airport for the space. The development of the hangar will allow for the company to store three corporate jets and two helicopters that are currently in storage in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, despite a large number of employees living around the Morgantown area. With many of the employees already using the airport for job transportation, the new hangar will allow for more direct use of aircraft for business purposes.
“They’re looking for a 40-year lease because of the investment they’re putting into the property, and they’re expecting the cost of the hangar to be somewhere between $1.2 and $1.3 million,” said Vrabel.
The development of the new hangar at the airport will be located a short distance away from the 15,000 square foot hangar that was formerly leased by Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Using the land that used to be occupied by old T-style hangars that were destroyed over a half decade ago, the new hangar development will offer expanded aircraft storage and maintenance space as well as access to airport amenities.
“So we’re looking at that whole development area,” Vrabel said. “This hangar is being built where the old T-hangars used to be, which were built in the 60s and then we had them removed, it’s redeveloping that site,” he said.
The goal for Vrabel and other officials at the Morgantown Municipal Airport is that the hangar construction will kick the tires on a new corporate aviation development. This will combine both the soon-to-be-constructed Shaft Driller International hangar and the former Mylan Pharmaceuticals hangar, as well as additional hangar developments that are expected to be pitched to companies throughout 2025. With plans to increase economic viability at the airport, Vrabel hopes the new 20,000-square-foot hangar will open the door for more long-term investments.
“That whole area there is designated to be corporate aviation,” said Vrabel. “The Mylan hangar is kind of our cornerstone piece, we have a company in there that’s doing corporate aviation, we have another new hangar that’s built right around the corner from that one, which will be adjacent to this hangar (20,000 square foot development) being built,” he said.
The Morgantown City Council also unanimously approved an ordinance amending the city charter to use gender-neutral language during their meeting Tuesday.