Service station marks beginning of more Indianapolis airport dev - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA) is looking for ways to drive more revenue. One way will make it easier on travelers, particularly those who rent cars from the airport.

The IAA recently signed off on plans for a new service station and fast food restaurant right off the airport's entrance road. It will be built and managed by New York-based Airport Plaza's LLC. IAA Property Director Eric Anderson said the lease should net the airport about $300,000 a year, noting an on-site gas station "is past due and needed."

Out-of-town visitors returning rental cars couldn't agree more.

"I was trying to find one on my way back and I didn't know my way around here, so I ended up not being able to fill up," said Cathy Nicholson of New York.

Instead she had to pay the car rental agency a premium to do it for her.

"It's like $2 more a gallon, so I didn't feel too good about that," she said.

The old terminal had a BP on site, but it closed after the terminal did. Many people renting cars now wind up driving at least five miles out of their way to fill up before heading back to the airport.

"I'm from Houston and I travel here quite a bit and I fuel up on the other side of town," said Mark Milliken, Houston.

Del Hozler, relocating to Indianapolis from Fort Collins, CO, said, "If you're allowing 15 minutes to get in and suddenly you're taking an extra ten minutes to find a gas station. It can be stressful to catch your flight on time."

Anderson said the new station should open next spring. Also in the works is a new solar farm, just west of the gas station. ET Energy Solutions will soon begin installing 41,000 solar panels which will produce 15 million kilowatt hours of electricity. That's enough to power more than 1,200 average homes for a year.

Anderson said that lease will generate $250,000 a year for the airport.

"Every little bit of non-aviation revenue helps," he said. "It helps us drive down costs to the airlines."

He said the authority is also putting plans for an airport hotel back on the front burner. Plans for a hotel to be built next to the parking garage were put on hold after the economy tanked. Anderson said requests for proposals could out by year's end with a deal in place within the next 9-12 months.

Unlike previous plans, he said, "It's not going to be a large hotel, but one more inclined to a business setting for quick meetings and (an airline crew) rest setting."

But the real moneymaker could be the old terminal site, now fenced off, locked up and run down.

Anderson said, "The valuable parts of that property are the garage and aircraft apron."

He said the rest of it, the terminal and office building, will be torn down in phases starting later this year. The IAA has an RFP out for demolition and has set aside $15 million to cover the costs.

Anderson said the 200-acre site, which includes the sprawling parking lots, is ideal for aviation-related businesses, but they are open to other uses that will generate money.