In preparation for construction of a new air cargo facility, Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport is pursuing a $10.5 million taxiway redevelopment.
Dallas-based Crow Holdings is developing a $75 million, 337,000-square-foot facility at the southwestern end of the airport, and once finished it is expected to quadruple the airport’s cargo capacity, according to CBRE, the firm that will market the finished property.
In order for the facility to be operational, though, the airport needs a new taxiway that is strong enough to accommodate the Boeing 777-8F airplanes carrying cargo in and out of the facility.
The airport bid out the taxiway project and is expecting it will cost $10.5 million to repair about 16 acres of pavement, according to a report filed with Milwaukee County.
Crow Holdings is providing the up-front funding to the county to construct the new taxiway. The county is pursuing approximately $6.6 million in federal grant funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and $2.3 million in state funding. The developer is covering the county’s contribution to the grant and, once awarded, will be reimbursed with the federal and state funds.
Plans for the cargo facility were first unveiled in 2023, but earlier this year Crow Holdings moved to increase the size of the facility by about 50,000 square feet. The air cargo facility will have the flexibility to accommodate a variety of end users including pharma, cold-storage, Class-1 cargo, and livestock.
The project also includes a new garage for the Milwaukee County Highway Department.
The increased size of the project will allow for the simultaneous parking of up to five Boeing 777-8F, or equivalent sized aircraft, with a multi-use apron to handle added smaller plane capacity. These additions could potentially more than quadruple the airport’s current cargo capacity, according to a press release from Crow Holdings.
The 41-acre project site, located at 300 E. College Ave. in Milwaukee, northeast of Howell and College avenues on the southern end of the airport, was used by the 440th Airlift Wing of the U.S. Air Force Reserve from the mid-1950s until 2010, when the base was closed and the property was deeded back to Milwaukee County.
