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Goulburn Airport Sale


68volksy

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The airport sale has officially fallen through.

 

Latest news is that Council will soon re-commence the whole process again. I can't believe the stamina and determination of the Council employees. This whole idea first fell through in 1996!

 

I really do just wish this would end so we have some certainty one way or the other.

 

 

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Fantastic news on the previous vendor not getting it though. I hope the contract was well written with penalties for failure to settles - at least that way they might get a bit of cash from it.

 

Any idea what its cost them to attempt to sell the place so far?

 

 

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They sold it to a shelf company with a grand total of $3 in funds. I don't think they'll even get the remainder of the deposit (they deferred half the deposit until settlement).

 

That said they will retain the amount of the deposit already received which should be enough to run it for a year or two...

 

I think you'd be looking at well over a million dollars over the past 13 years. It cost them over $500,000 to reseal/upgrade the runway to the purchasers specifications as their part of the contract requirements. At least Corporate Air will be happy with that. The rest of us don't need that much runway.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...
Hi guys, as I understand it from chatting with the principal of http://www.gftc.com.au/aboutus.html a couple of months ago, he has purchased the site and is now developing and releasing hangar sites as well as running the GFTC - am I missing something?

I had heard that there were changes happening but my internet searches, including this site, hadn't turned anything up post 2009.

 

Have the facilities at the airport, outside GFTC, changed?

 

Cheers

 

Col

 

 

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Guest Mark Mac

Apparently the accommodation block is just about finished and will be open as part of a live in parachute club - or something like that

 

 

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Nothing's happened as yet. John Ferrara is meant to be entering into a 2 year lease for the airport commencing 1 July 2011 with an option to buy after the 2 years. That's the deal as it sat with Council in February and still is. I'm informed by a Councillor that as of today the lease has not yet been signed.

 

There are many terms on the lease/sale agreement including the finalisation of the motel that commenced construction in 1991, the construction of a new terminal building and many others. I believe the detail in many of these terms is still being discussed also. From the Council resolution if Mr Ferrara fails to deliver on any of the points the whole thing falls over. Council is also taking an option over some of his property out there i believe.

 

There have been no changes to any of the facilities. The old terminal building is slowly being demolished but that's been in the cards since 2001 when the DA for demolition was approved.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

On the 31st of August, John Ferrara signed the lease and sale contracts. He will be holding a meeting for the airport users on the 26th of September to provide an overview of the proposed improvements and plans for the development for the airport. He will also provide the proposed fees and charges for 2011/2012.

 

This has been confirmed via email from the Goulburn council.

 

 

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A couple of guys have already moved aircraft stating they were told access fees would be $7k per annum so it'll be nice to finally get some certainty. I notice 1 hanger's already been fenced off from accessing the airport by the new owner also so it'll be good to hear why that was.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Meeting was on today. Quick post for those who care. Landing fees and fees for parking outdoors (for the 1 aircraft that does) have remained largely unchanged. Very big point of stating that the fees for Recreational Aircraft will now be collected which I agree with however the only way of doing this could be quite confrontational i'd imagine.

 

Big change is the imposition of "access charges" for those who own land with airside frontage who want access to the airport. Calculated at $6.64 (plus GST) per square metre of land with frontage plus extra if connected to septic system. I feel very sorry for anyone who owns land out there as its value would have just plummeted. Minimum lot size out there is 400 square metres which means their "rates" just increased by $2,921.60. On an average land value of $40,000 for these small lots its a big increase. Council rates will not change either. Todays speaker made a very strong argument that charging people more would result in more people coming and a better result for everyone. I'm sure there are others like myself who see a slight flaw in that logic?

 

For those with aircraft hangered in other peoples hangers it's now a matter of waiting for the hanger owners to decide whether they'll pay or not. Feel sorry for the owners of aircraft that can't be left outdoors as they'll have no option but to move. The hanger where many of these smaller craft are kept (about 20 or so) looks to be up for over $40,000 per annum and todays statement was 'if anyone doesn't pay there will be a fence erected around their hanger'. Closest airfield is probably going to now be crookwell (Council sounds like they'd be happy to build them a hanger) for these guys or down to Cooma for the guys from Canberra.

 

 

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hmm... that looks like cost of buying airport/10years = what to charge the people already there, if you subtract the frontage of the buildings John already owns. Kind of hard to tell though, the google maps image of the airport doesn't have the hangers that have gone up in the last couple of years. It might be 5 years, that corporate maintenance hanger is pretty big.

 

Oh, and I'm assuming a 2.1 millionish purchase price, which I heard somewhere. could be wrong.

 

 

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Argument was money would be spent planting trees and landscaping which would attract more people. There might be some validity in the "we'll provide more services" argument I suppose but in my view it's very short-sighted. Most of the land-holders out there already have access to toilets and drinking water so the question in my mind is what else are they getting for the extra money each year?

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

And you all probably though this saga was over!

 

Well after two years the option to purchase the airport is to expire on Monday the 2nd of September. Many of the agreed works have not been completed - many have not even been started...

 

The lessee has now asked Council for an extension of time. Two years ago he did not have the money (or did not want to pay) to purchase the airport and now (this is the really funny part!) two years later he does not have the funds (or want to pay) for the airport!!

 

 

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It'll be interesting to see if the council extends, given the seemingly unfulfilled promises made by the gentleman.

 

Or if there was a contract of sale that was signed, if they'll be taking some of the penalty provisions.

 

Volksy do you have any idea what's going on with landing fees and the other charges the lessee was imposing?

 

 

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It'll be interesting to see if the council extends, given the seemingly unfulfilled promises made by the gentleman.Or if there was a contract of sale that was signed, if they'll be taking some of the penalty provisions.

Volksy do you have any idea what's going on with landing fees and the other charges the lessee was imposing?

No contract was signed - the lessee simply was given an option to buy the airport. Rumour has it no money was paid for this option but rather he gave them a mortgage over his hanger site.

 

Fees for the flying school have been $20 per "full stop". Landing fees for everyone else differ according to how friendly you are with the lessee. All the land access fees (roughly $125,000 worth per annum) that he charged to the hanger owners have not been paid as it seems he has no legal right to charge them. Neither has anyone paid the "sewer access" charges that he levied.

 

 

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Maybe council will list it on ebay for bidding or "buy it now" price.

 

Any idea how much council thinks it's worth?

 

Pass round the hat and put it an offer? I'll chip in a few bucks......

 

 

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