A California developer has broken ground on a planned $28 million project at the Sandpoint Airport that will include 44 fly-in residences as well as commercial and aviation-services buildings.


To be called SilverWing at Sandpoint, the project is being developed on an 18-acre site just west of the southern portion of the North Idaho airports main runway, says John McKeown, of SilverWing at Sandpoint LLC, the Long Beach, Calif., developer.


The hangars to be built there will include loft-like space that individual buyers will be able to finish as they please, or not at all. The structures will be marketed as second homes for aircraft owners, McKeown says. Prices for the properties havent been set yet, and are expected to be announced next April, he says.


Interstate Concrete & Asphalt, of Sandpoint, is completing infrastructure work at the site, and three model hangar homes will be built there next spring, he says.


The structures will be constructed by Erect-A-Tube Inc., a Harvard, Ill.-based hangar manufacturer, McKeown says. The project is designed by JAG Architecture, of La Mesa, Calif.


SilverWing will offer a choice of floor plans for the living space portion of the hangars, but buyers will be able to hire their own designers and builders to finish that interior space, he says.


He says the development company was attracted to Sandpoint Airport because its within minutes of Schweitzer Mountain Resort, Lake Pend Oreille, and the city of Sandpoint.


That kind of location is hard to find, he says.


Unlike most airport properties, McKeown asserts, SilverWing at Sandpoint will offer residents direct ownership of their land immediately adjacent to a county-run airport.


The hangar areas in each unit will range from 2,100 square feet to 6,000 square feet, and the residential portions of the structures will range in size from 2,100 square feet to 4,000 square feet.


As part of the project, SilverWing plans to develop two commercial buildings, with a total of about 32,000 square feet of floor space, and envisions that those buildings will house a fixed-base operator (FBO) at the airport, which will provide aviation-related services, including fuel, aircraft maintenance, a restaurant, and car rentals. The airport currently has one FBO, he says. McKeown says SilverWing hasnt decided yet whether to run the new FBO facilities itself or attract an independent operator.


The development also will have a community center that will have a pool and spa, workout equipment, and an outdoor kitchen area, McKeown says, adding that the project will be heavily landscaped and situated to offer views of the surrounding Selkirk Mountains.


The development will be accessed via a planned new road, to be called SilverWing Road, that will connect to Great Northern Road just west of the airport.


Sandpoint Airport, which is located just north of Sandpoint and about 75 miles northeast of Spokane, is operated by Bonner County. It has a 5,500-foot runway that can handle large private jets, such as the 14-passenger Gulfstream G3, he says.


Contact Mike McLean at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at mikem@spokanejournal.com.