Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport broke ground Thursday on a new state-of-the-art air cargo facility it's building on the former 440th Airlift Wing campus in partnership with Crow Holdings.
The former 440th campus – now the MKE Regional Business Park – was given in 2008 to the airport, which utilizes some of the buildings and has leased others to short-term tenants.
The 440th was transferred to Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina in 2007 and ultimately deactivated nine years later.
This new development will convert part of the site into a 337,000-square-foot facility with a dedicated air cargo building and accessibility enhancements to taxiways for wide-body cargo aircraft.
With capacity for up to five B747-400 planes simultaneously, the facility is expected to generate more than $1.3 million in landing fees and more than $1 million in ground lease rents and fees each year.
It is also expected to create jobs at the airport, boost development in the nearby neeighborhoods and potentially attract new passenger and cargo flights by driving down overall operating costs at Mitchell, according to airport sources.
The public-private partnership expects to draw business away from, "the congestion, delays and higher costs associated with operating at Illinois airports."
“This project represents a generational investment for Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport,” said Airport Director Brian Dranzik.
“This public-private partnership is a win-win-win for the Airport, Milwaukee County, and manufacturers across Wisconsin. When this project is complete, builders and suppliers will be able to transport their raw materials and finished products in and out of Wisconsin more quickly and efficiently.”
The site will also have a new Milwaukee County Highway Maintenance Facility.
“We all know that Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport is one of the largest drivers of economic activity in Wisconsin, and this investment will lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs and have a major economic impact in our community,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in a statement.
“Kudos to the entire airport team for pulling this project together and doing so – remarkably – at no cost to the airport or Milwaukee County taxpayers.”
The new facility is expected to be completed next year.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
