An affiliate of Milwaukee-based manufacturer
Rite-Hite is planning to build a new two-plane aircraft hangar at Mitchell International Airport.
The cost to build the hangar is estimated at $8.4 million. It would be located at 1901 E. Layton Ave., which is on the northeast end of the airport. Rite-Hite leases the land from Milwaukee County, according to permits filed with the City of Milwaukee.
At 33,400 square feet, about 3,000 square feet of the hangar will be used as office space for pilots and maintenance workers, 2,300 square feet as a workshop for plane maintenance and about 4,500 square feet for car parking. There will be about 23,500 square feet for the actual aircraft.
Rite-Hite has an existing hangar at Mitchell and this new facility will be an upgrade, according to a statement from a Rite-Hite spokesperson.
"The company regularly flies in customers and prospective customers from across the U.S. to visit its unique Customer Experience Center, which is located at the Rite-Hite world headquarters in the Walker’s Point neighborhood of Milwaukee," the statement said.
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, Rite-Hite Holding Corp. owns a 2002 Cessna 750, which is a 12-seat, two-engine aircraft. The company registered the plane in 2012.
In the last two weeks, the plane has been flown to Indianapolis and back to Milwaukee twice, to Las Vegas and back, to Tampa, from Tampa to Naples, Florida, and from Naples to Milwaukee, according to FlightAware. A flight was scheduled today from Milwaukee to Greensboro, North Carolina.
Rite-Hite, best known for its loading dock equipment, has hired Pewaukee-based
VJS Construction Services to build the hangar.
Rite-Hite representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
[caption id="attachment_585614" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
Rite-Hite Holding Corp.'s Cessna 750 plane. Image from FlightAware.[/caption]
