[SteelTown]

Pretty sure there was an article about 2 weeks ago saying Tradeport bought a piece of land across from Airport Road for more surface parking. So I guess a parking structure is out of the question for now.

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Councillor balks at TradePort's parking proposal

By Stories by Steve Buist
The Hamilton Spectator
(Feb 20, 2007)

A numbered company owned by the same people who operate Hamilton's airport has bought a chunk of land for more than $3.4 million to build a parking lot across the road from John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport.

The property of approximately 25 hectares was purchased on Dec. 14 by 2113522 Ontario Inc., which has the same ownership structure in the same proportions as TradePort International Corporation, which operates the airport under a 40-year lease with the city.

Richard Koroscil, president and CEO of both TradePort and 2113522 Ontario Inc., said the land purchase was funded by the numbered company's shareholders and not from TradePort International.

Koroscil said the numbered company was created because there could have been a potential conflict if TradePort owned the newly acquired land, which isn't within the airport boundary.

TradePort had asked the city to purchase the parcel last year and add it to the airport so that TradePort could develop more parking.

"(The city) had decided that they didn't want to do that at the time," said Koroscil.

"Our concern was that we didn't have a lot of time because of the expansion that was taking place in terms of our business," he added, "so rather than getting caught down the road without having the facilities to expand the parking facility, we moved ahead and purchased it."

TradePort is still hopeful that the city will consider buying the land from the numbered company.

Ward 5 Councillor Chad Collins, a vocal critic of the airport lease, said such a deal "makes no sense financially." Hamilton owns the airport and the land it sits on while TradePort's role is to operate the airport, which includes collecting landing fees, passenger fees and rent from tenants.

TradePort is responsible for developing business at the airport, including the parking lot that already exists, as well as the cost of capital improvements. Anything that gets built on Hamilton's land becomes the city's property when the lease runs out.

The lease with TradePort stipulates that the city is only responsible for purchasing land that would be directly needed for a runway expansion.

"My direction right now is to purchase land for the extension of the runway and that's all I've gotten direction to do," said Guy Paparella, the city's director of airport development. "If (Koroscil) approaches us, obviously we have to consider it and put it in front of council and see what they think."