TLH airport 'game changer' deal with North American Aerospace Industries fails to take off

Hopes for a historic deal between the city of Tallahassee and North American Aerospace Industries — a company that was slated to wield a $616 million economic impact — fizzled within months of a celebratory announcement at City Hall.

The failure to launch, only now being revealed after multiple requests for an update from the Tallahassee Democrat, represents another stumbling block to the airport on its way to becoming a vibrant economic engine for Florida's capital city.

Airport officials said a possible deal was scuttled in late 2022 or early 2023 when the company couldn't secure the financing for a land lease.

Recruitment of the company, dubbed Project Alpha during confidential negotiations with the Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality, was heralded by city commissioners and Mayor John Dailey, who called it "phenomenal" during the company coming out party at a City Commission meeting in June 2022.

"This isn't just a gamechanger for the city and county, this is a regional gamechanger," he said from the dais.

North American Aerospace, based in Kinston, North Carolina, specializes in aircraft teardown and recycling. The project was considered the airport's Amazon since it was slated to generate 985 permanent jobs and 1,443 temporary construction jobs — just as the world's largest e-commerce platform was planning to build its robotic fulfilment center and bring 1,000 new jobs to Tallahassee (Amazon has actually doubled its target number jobs).

North American Aerospace Industries' arrival would have made it the largest job creator by a single company in the airport's history and led to an expansion of its sustainable aircraft recycling of equipment, including interiors, seats and other materials.

Why the deal with North American Aerospace died

For weeks, the Tallahassee Democrat has requested a project update from the OEV and the city of Tallahassee. When asked via text on Friday, City Manager Reese Goad said "David (Pollard) is the best one on that one."

In a Tuesday interview, Pollard said North American Aerospace was not able to secure the financing it needed to move forward with a minimum land lease of 57 acres and the construction of three buildings at the airport — representing a $110 million capital investment and $30 million in new revenue at the airport.

"We worked with them and tried to assist them along the way, but they were not able to secure the financing," Pollard said. "So, subsequent to that, we never did enter into an agreement."

If the company demonstrates its financial viability to support the project, Pollard said "we'll stand at the ready if they choose to reengage."

The economic challenges at the airport, including losing JetBlue as a carrier, come as the city created a second deputy aviation director position and hired Ben Pingree, a longtime local government administrator, to manage airport operations, including finance, administration, properties, business development and capital projects.

After a year as one of Leon County's assistant county administrators, Pingree will be starting his new job at the airport on Sept. 7.

Pingree was well acquainted with Project Alpha during his time overseeing Blueprint and OEV as it was one of 14 projects under confidential negotiations. Negotiations with the company had been in the works for a year, Pingree told the Democrat in a July 2022 article.

During the announcement of the possible deal, Pollard noted that negotiations were continuing with OEV and Space Florida to "piece this together."

"They are working to develop agreements behind the scenes," he said, at the time. "This is an international company that is working on many different fronts to pull this together."

A string of economic setbacks to Tallahassee's airport even as international processing facility offers promise

While passenger traffic at the airport is on the rise, its ability to attract and see major private sector deals to completion has been hit or miss.

In March, the Democrat reported that a deal with Burrell Aviation in Colorado went sour.

The Colorado-based company failed to meet terms of its lease agreement for roughly 19 acres at the airport. It was projected to spend a minimum of $20 million in capital expenses to build a facility and generate more than $8 million in new revenue for the airport spanning the agreement.

The deal was also expected to generate an estimated 290 permanent jobs and more than 250 temporary construction jobs.

Last month, JetBlue Airways gave the city little notice it was eliminating its single route serving Tallahassee after only seven months of service due to a lack of demand. The service from Tallahassee to Fort Lauderdale ends in late October and the decision was part of a companywide decision to eliminate several routes across the country.

At the same time, the city's biggest economic opportunity may be under construction. Tallahassee's $28-million International Processing Facility is projected to unlock a wave of economic opportunities and open international access for travelers and the private sector.

Pollard said he doesn't see the struggles with North American Aerospace Industries, Burrell Aviation and JetBlue as misses to the airport's economic development impact to the region. Instead, he said, it shows the airport's pursuit of opportunities.

"We're going to keep working toward our strategic goals and our priorities. As we continue forward, opportunities are going to come to us and we'll explore those," Pollard said. "We certainly have an obligation to do some due diligence behind the scenes and ask some questions and understand whoever it is proposing a project that they have the means to deliver it."

Contact Economic Development Reporter TaMaryn Waters at [email protected] and follow @TaMarynWaters on X.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee Airport deal with North American Aerospace fails to launch