MidAmerica Airport builds Wall Street-backed perishables terminal

A PRIVATE consortium led by Wall Street banker John G Hewitt has agreed to finance the building of a new cargo facility at Illinois's MidAmerica Airport to replace the current structure, which is due to be converted into a manufacturing plant for Boeing.

Some 20,000 of the 62,500 square-foot building, due for completion before July, will serve as a dedicated zone for the processing of perishables, the St Louis Post Dispatch reported.

The near moribund airport, across the Mississippi from the St Louis metropolis in the state of Indiana, has had hopes revived of becoming a China hub and two loaded air cargo flights have come in on test runs, but there are no flights scheduled as negotiations continue with Chinese carriers and aviation officials.

St Clair County has contributed US$250,000 in real estate for the project, while Hewitt's funding group are expected to spend from $4 million to $6 million on the structure itself.

County Board chairman Mark Kern said that ownership of the facility would be transferred to St Clair at the end of the 13-year lease, with the option of two, five-year extensions.
(Source:www.schednet.com)