TEMPLE, Texas—The Temple Economic Development Corporation (Temple EDC) today announced the completion of a $2 million expansion at the Draughon-Miller Central Texas Regional Airport in Temple, Texas. The City of Temple owns and operates the airport and partnered with the Temple Reinvestment Zone to fund the expansion, which created an infrastructure to allow for more corporate hangar space.
The airport is a draw for businesses considering locating in the Temple area, particularly corporate headquarters and regional offices that need accessibility to a nearby airport and hangar space to store company aircraft.
“Not many communities have the highway access, a location in an economically booming region, and the high-caliber workforce that we have in Temple,” said Charley Ayres, Temple EDC director of business development. “To combine that with the perk of having a high-quality regional airport lends to a great economic development story and recruiting-and-attraction tool as we aim to attract businesses from a variety of industries.”
The airport expansion project included installing utilities, building a taxiway, erecting a fence and constructing a roadway to provide access to eventual corporate hangars in a new section of the airport’s 100-acre tract. This area is now shovel-ready for the construction of additional corporate hangars. The 7,000-foot airport runway and new taxiway system accommodates most corporate jets.
Temple-based McLane Company just completed construction of a new corporate hangar in the newly expanded part of the airport. The Draughon-Miller Central Texas Regional Airport Aviation Director Sharon Rostovich said the airport had run out of sites for corporate hangars when McLane came to them wanting to add on.
“We couldn’t grow anymore until the City of Temple partnered with the Temple Reinvestment Zone to fund this project, but we had an immediate need and willing investors,” she said. “This was a wonderful opportunity for the airport, the city and future business. Now, a hangar can be built as quickly as they can get it constructed.”
The airport has a general aviation terminal building that was remodeled in 2009 and provides facilities, amenities and services for pilots, such as a fuel station, catering and courtesy cars.
The Temple Reinvestment Zone was created in 1982 to spur economic development and improve capital infrastructure. It earmarks property taxes assessed on the improved value for capital improvements made within the zone. There are multiple zones within Temple, all clustered around industrial and business-heavy areas.
About Temple
Temple, Texas, is a community with a diverse economic base that includes healthcare, distribution and warehousing, and manufacturing as its foundation. Within 200 miles of a population of 19 million, Temple is in a strategic location that is central within the Southwest U.S. marketplace. Visit choosetemple.com.