Four years after the groundbreaking for Park VNY, an area at Van Nuys Airport set aside for propeller aircraft, the development is partly built and filling up with tenants. The $35 million project on a 30-acre site at the northwest side of the airfield has been long in the making. The land fronts Balboa Boulevard and was once used by the Air National Guard, but owners Pacific Aviation Development have proposed a project that will eventually accommodate 230 propeller aircraft, either in small T-shaped hangars containing a single aircraft or larger structures that can hold several planes. Ryan Sanders, manager of the property, said that with the first two phases of construction complete, 176 piston (propeller-powered) aircraft are based in the park. There are 76 T-hangars relocated from elsewhere on the airport and 68 new hangars. “When we build a building, within 60 days of being completed it is fully leased out,” Sanders said. “Most of the buildings have been leased out before they were finished.” Construction continues on a terminal that will include a restaurant, executive offices, a hangar and a conference room. It is scheduled for completion by the end of 2018. ‘Unprecedented’ strategy While lacking the prestige or glamor of the Learjet and Gulfstream jets that fly in and out of Van Nuys, piston aircraft have played a vital role in the airport’s development. Pilots get their start behind the controls of a propeller aircraft. As of the end of 2016, Van Nuys was home base for 316 single-engine and multi-engine piston aircraft, compared to 189 jets. Still, the number of prop aircraft has declined from past years where it was in the range of 500 to 600. “We have tried to be that program that caters to the little people, which is the backbone of aviation and reaching people (learning) to fly,” Sanders said. In addition to private plane owners, the park leases space to five flight schools and Wings of Rescue, an animal rescue organization in Woodland Hills that fly dogs and cats to no-kill shelters in other states. Elliot Sanders (no relation to Ryan), chairman of the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council and himself a private pilot, said he was thrilled with the development of the prop park and what it means for Van Nuys. “It’s unprecedented in the airport system where this much property on this active an airport has been set aside to provide benefits to the small general aviation aircraft owner,” said Sanders, a former president of the Van Nuys Propeller Aircraft Association. Self-serve fuel Under Pacific Aviation’s master plan, three buildings still await construction – two large hangars with attached offices and the terminal building with 9,000-square-feet of hangar space at one end, a 2,800-square-foot restaurant at the other and executive offices in the middle. The intention is to have the terminal become a focal point of the airport and the restaurant to cater to a mix of aircraft owners and Valley residents. “We want everyone to come experience the airport,” Ryan Sanders said. Features of Park VNY include self-service gasoline pumps, a wash rack for cleaning planes and a picnic area with a gas barbecue. Elliot Sanders called having self-service gas pumps back at the airport a tremendous plus. Prior to those pumps, piston owners needed to deliver fuel to their planes. “The opportunity for small aircraft pilot to fill their aircraft at the self-serve really reduces costs and allows a quicker and easier response to get fuel because you had to wait for a truck in the past,” Elliot Sanders said. Pacific Aviation has developed 900,000 square feet of buildings at general aviation airports in California and Arizona. Its owners are Neil Sherman, Eric Steinhauer and Steve Argubright. Sherman is the owner of Industrial Metal Supply, a long-time Sun Valley metal products supplier. Steinhauer is president of Industrial Metal. Argubright owns Argubright Construction, the contractor doing the work at Park VNY. Pacific was awarded the bid to develop the prop park in 2009 but it was slow going getting the project moving due to the economic recession and a reluctance by banks to lend money. It also took time to get approvals and permits from the city and sign a lease with Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that owns the airport. “To do one building for a hangar – that happens all the time,” Ryan Sanders said. “But to do (multiple) buildings, it is hard to convince a bank to go with that.”