The Great Falls International Airport Authority Board voted during their March 31 meeting to sell the FedEx building to FedEx.

The building and ramp were constructed in 1999 using tax-exempt financing so the airport authority owned the infrastructure while the rent paid by FedEx covered the debt service on the facility.

John Faulkner, airport director, told The Electric that the original lease agreement expires at the end of June and the board approved the sale of the building for $1.8 million.

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According to airport board documents, the 81,000 square foot building was appraised in early 2017 at $2.5 million.

The sale agreement deducts the cost of $644,450 in roof repairs and $74,629 in HVAC and other roof repairs that FedEx will make within 10 years.

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FedEx will continue to lease the ground under their building from the airport under a new 30-year lease for about $70,000 in starting annual rent and a lease for preferential use of the cargo ramp for about $47,000.

“I think it’s a pretty big deal to have a new long-term agreement and investment from FedEx,” Faulkner told The Electric.

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FedEx leases about 23 acres of land for their building and ramp and Faulkner told The Electric that the new lease would include a building reserve account to fund improvements to the glycol system that serves the FedEx facility. Those improvements are still a few years down the road, Faulkner said.

Currently, the system collects glycol in underground storage containers. Faulkner said it’s an outdated system and they’ll upgrade it to an evaporation pond that will serve the FedEx facility since it’s too far to pipe into the airport’s other evaporation pond and their planes are larger so would need additional capacity in the pond anyway.

Jenn Rowell

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