W.M. Jordan’s airport hangar showcases nod to Wright Brothers’ First Flight
The Newport News-based construction management firm W.M. Jordan Company has grown by leaps and bounds since its founding in 1958.
With that growth, the business landed a private corporate airport hangar at the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. Naturally, the firm built it, and it’s looking to build new hangars at the airport for other corporate customers.
John Lawson II, executive chairman of W.M. Jordan Co., said he needed a new hangar to house his company’s new plane. Connected to a tarmac and runway, the hangar was built in five months and was completed in July 2019.
The building includes 12,200 square feet of space for two airplanes and 2,100 square feet for pilots’ offices, conference accommodations, a kitchenette and maintenance shop.
Lawson said he worked out a deal in which the airport provided the 1.5 acres of land and his construction company built the 14,250 square foot hangar — along with the two other hangars on that side of the airport.
“We own it, built it and have our company planes in there,” Lawson said.
The Cessna Citation Latitude primarily transports executives to and from meetings. W.M. Jordan has locations in three states – Virginia, North and South Carolina – and job sites all over.
“It makes it very convenient, and instead of having to spend a couple of days traveling and putting people up in hotels, we can have them quickly to the meeting and back,” Lawson said.
W.M. Jordan’s hangar is adjacent to the ones it built for Smithfield Foods and Textron Aviation.
The hangar features a painted mural of the Wright Brother’s First Flight, patterned after one that dates back to 1940 in the Williamston, North Carolina, post office.
“I like doing themes for the different offices that we have, and I like history,” Lawson said. “We did a little bit of aviation history with an old propeller.”
The hangar carried a price tag of $3 million.
“There is more land there to build additional hangars if anybody is interested,” Lawson said.
Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-222-5356, sandra.pennecke@insidebiz.com
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