Andover - Aeroflex, NJ For Sale

Hi everyone...

A co-worker jokingly asked me if I wanted to buy an airport, so I
jokingly replied, "sure!" It turns out the airport that's for sale is
Andover-Aeroflex airport in Sussex County, NJ, one of the most charming
strips of pavement this side of the Mississippi. The runway is bordered
by two lakes, and is surrounded by a wonderful park and lots of rustic
charm. Asking price: $9.8 million.

The thing that caught my eye was the actual advertisement for the
property, which reads as follows:

"Property approx 147 acres w/a functional airport. Former farmer's
market, 3 homes, beautiful lake, part of the parcel, 37 acres across
the road zoned for residential. Property sold as a package but already
subdivided. A few feet from Rt. 206 w/great exposure. Zoning is
industrial/aviation great for flying use, schools, churches,
agriculture, corporate offices, large store chains, rest homes,
restaurants and more. Call for details. Exclusive office listing."

It's the latter half of the ad that has me concerned, talking about
"schools, churches, ..., corporate offices, large store chains". Is
that something that might threaten this airport? I know the current
state of affairs in this country is that developers basically get their
way no matter the cost to the environment, public, or any particular
group of people (in this case, pilots and open space advocates). Any
realistic chance that, when the airport is sold, somebody could come in
and develop it to the scale that the airport is no longer usable?

--
Guy Elden Jr.

Guy Elden Jr wrote:

Any
realistic chance that, when the airport is sold, somebody could come in
and develop it to the scale that the airport is no longer usable?

Absolutely. In fact, the airport is about the only reasonably flat land in that
tract, so it would probably be the first part developed if someone wanted to put
in a mall or office park.

I thought Andover was part of the State park system?

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

"Guy Elden Jr" wrote:

A co-worker jokingly asked me if I wanted to buy an airport, so I
jokingly replied, "sure!" It turns out the airport that's for sale is
Andover-Aeroflex airport in Sussex County, NJ, one of the most charming
strips of pavement this side of the Mississippi.

Not 50 miles north of there, two other airports are being
threatened. Monticello, NY has been sold to a developer and
it looks like it will disappear.

After the owner died, Wurtsboro, NY was also sold to a
developer (or an option was sold - it's not really clear).
The developer held a meeting last week and told the pilots
that he was wanted to move the main runway, eliminate the
parallel grass runway and the 3 crossing grass runways, dig
a 400' deep gravel pit, then fill it with water, build
luxury homes, add a ski chalet at the north end and
horseback riding stables at the south end, "move" the
hangars, eliminate the overruns, etc. It isn't even clear
if the promises to keep a runway can be enforced.

The town offered to buy the airport for more than the
developer offered, but that offer was refused. Apparently
there's bad blood between the town and some of the heirs who
control the estate. At least one heir who lives on the
property wants it to stay an airport with open surrounding
space and would have been happy to accept the higher offer
from the town, but doesn't control the estatel.

The town is now considering using eminent domain to preserve
the airport and open space that abuts the canal and
wetlands. There's lots of backing from all the wetland/open
space/green groups, and from several NY politicians to
preserve the airport and open space, but the developer has
the inside track. There is a pilots group formed, but the
developer has control of the airport and is making their
life difficult.

For those who often rail against the FAA - note that they
will be providing 95% of the money to the town, and the only
reason the airport has a chance is that the FAA paid for
runway improvements about 8 years ago and locked it up as an
airport for 20 years (12 more now).

This cannot be Aeroflex, which is owned by the State Forest Service,
but rather Sussex which has been on the market for quite some time now.

After thinking a bit more, it is probably Newton Airport, just off 206.

wrote:

After thinking a bit more, it is probably Newton Airport, just off 206.

Where's the ad posted? I happen to know someone that's been considering the
purchase of an airport in this area (for use as an airport!).

- Andrew

Yeah, you know, I might have made a mistake in thinking it was
Aeroflex. The ad I saw is posted in "Homes and Estates"
(Morris/Sussex/Warren Edition), Volume 13, Issue 16 (Aug 10 - Aug 23,
2005). It's one of those free real estate magazines you can find at
grocery stores.

The ad I saw is at the bottom of page 38, and now that I look at it
again, is titled "Andover Airport". So it could very well be Newton
instead (which I've never been to, but will be checking out very soon
now!) The picture in the ad shows a runway ending at the foot of a
lake, so I assumed it was Aeroflex, which has a similar configuration.

I guess it's a good thing I made the mistake while still parked safely
on the ground.

--
Guy Elden Jr.

On 10 Aug 2005 07:06:29 -0700, "Guy Elden Jr"
wrote:

"schools, churches, ..., corporate offices, large store chains"

If you have driven to the airport, then you know that the access road
hooks around the end of the runway, between it and the lake, and that
traffic is supposed to stop and look to make sure a plane isn't taking
off or on final, then proceed.

The access road leads not only to the airport buildings, paralleling
the runway, but to a small housing development straight ahead.

I can imagine how long this would last with a school back there!



-- all the best, Dan Ford

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Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
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On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:42:04 GMT, George Patterson
wrote:

I thought Andover was part of the State park system?

I think it's a private inholding, which probably is what justifies the
price.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net
In Search of Lost Time: www.readingproust.com

wrote:
After thinking a bit more, it is probably Newton Airport, just off 206.

In fact, it is Newton. It's one of the reasons the skydiving
organization based there just moved across the river to East
Stroudsburg. Just heard about this last week.

-Doug

--
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Doug Vetter, CFIMEIA

http://www.dvcfi.com
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