Officials hope improvements will bring rentals of Lansing Airport’s Ford Hangar

Renovations to the Ford Hangar at the Lansing Municipal Airport will take off over the next few years as village officials discuss plans and funding sources.

Village officials want the Ford Hangar become an event space, said Ken Reynolds, director of venue operations, and that will require roof renovation, climate control and bathrooms.

Since 1985, the Ford Hangar has been on the National Register of Historic Places, which means all renovations have to be carefully planned out and approved by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Reynolds said.

“We have to make sure that the integrity and the hangar itself is preserved as much in its original condition as possible,” Reynolds said. “We have to keep the original structure and the original building in mind.”

Reynolds said until a few years ago, the Federal Aviation Administration required any event at the Ford Hangar have an aviation connection. When that rule changed, Reynolds said, village officials started holding events.

The village’s 125 anniversary celebration was held in 2018 at the hangar, Reynolds said. Since then, events have included economic summits, weddings, a fundraiser and a youth choir gathering.

People have called seeking to rent the hangar for birthday parties or high school dance photo sessions, Reynolds said.

“The appeal, and where we’re going with this, is that everybody wants to be at a unique venue,” Reynolds said. “This uniqueness is what people are drawn to, and obviously the history.”

Automaker legend Henry Ford purchased 1,400 acres for the airport in 1925, said Lansing Mayor Patty Eidam, who researched the airport extensively when she was president of the Lansing Historical Society.

Work on the Ford Hangar began in January 1926, and it was built within a year, Eidam said. American Airlines used a portion of it as a passenger terminal from 1928 through 1933, before moving its terminal to Midway Airport in Chicago, she said.

The architecture has no middle support beams, and rails to open and close the hangar doors and windows wrap the inside of the building. The windows are divided into rectangles and then each rectangle has smaller rectangles inside.

The Village Board is discussing a liquor license for the Ford Hangar to attract more events.

Reynolds said when an event is now held there, the village flexes license for the Fox Pointe amphitheater downtown to the hangar, and then all the supplies are transferred. Each time that happens, a $150 fee is paid to the state, according to a board memo.

Trustee Saad Abbasy said he supports a liquor license for the hangar so the village can manage the liquor license and consumption.

The hangar’s roof will be repaired this spring, Reynolds said, paid for with a $500,000 grant through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

With the roof repair, Reynolds said he’ll be able to shorten what he has called the “Hangar 101 speech” in which he tells potential renters to expect leaks if it rains.

The village also wants to replace the windows and do more masonry work, Reynolds said. In recent years, Reynolds said some masonry work was done to restore the structure.

“It’s an old building that’s been out in the elements for 100 years. So, making sure it’s structurally safe — which it is — but re-enforcing those things,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said village officials are figuring out how to implement climate control. A preliminary idea is to build a structure within the space to help climate control the interior without deconstructing the exterior.

The design of Soldier Field in Chicago is an example, Reynolds said, where a new stadium was built within the historic pillars.

“Think that, some kind of an idea like that, that would allow us to enclose and keep the temperature under control,” Reynolds said.

Village officials would also like to build an annex for bathrooms, Reynolds said. When the space is rented for events, he said, the host has to provide portable bathrooms.

The annex could be built on the west side of the building, Reynolds said.

The plans for climate control and annex space have only been discussions, Reynolds said, while the roof and structural renovations are further along.

Abbasy said much of the discussion about the hangar right now is ensuring the space is usable. The most important thing, he said, was to ensure whatever work is done honors the building’s designation as a historic landmark.

“Being able to maintain that and making it friendly for guests, that future for the space is an exciting one,” Abbasy said.

To fund the work, Reynolds said village officials are researching and applying for grants and considering village funding, which the Village Board would have to approve.

“This is a multi-year thing. The amount of money to get it to where it’s as modern as possible will be substantial, but it will be a matter of incrementally getting there,” Reynolds said.