Ground lease rates at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport’s Aviation Business Park could change if a measure before the Airport Commission is approved this afternoon at the commission’s monthly meeting.
The new lease rates would simplify the sliding rate scale currently in use and, it is hoped, make the business park more attractive to developers.
“We’ve got more than 600 acres of raw land that is available in various size tracts so we’re re-evaluating the land values in the area and trying to create a more consistent scale with just two rates instead of multiple rates,” says Ralph Hennessy, assistant aviation director.
Currently, there are eight different lease rates at the aviation park that vary depending on the size of the tract. They range from 21 cents per square foot, or $9,147 per acre, for parcels of .25 acres or less to 6 cents per square foot, or $2,613 per acre, for tracts of 50 acres or more. The two proposed new rates would be 21 cents per square foot, or $9,147 per acre, for 49 acres or less and 12 cents per square foot, or $5,227 per acre, for 50 acres or more.
“We think instead of a sliding scale having these two, consistent rates makes it more attractive for developers,” Hennessy says.
The aviation park is an industrial park that sits adjacent to the airport on 700 acres of airport-owned land. It currently has 14 tenants, and airport officials would like that number to grow. The park is the fourth-largest revenue source for the airport, generating between $2 million and $3 million a year, or between 15% and 20% of total airport revenues.
“We need to continue developing our land in order to be more self-sustaining,” Hennessy says.
—Stephanie Riegel
