Cape Girardeau again looks for airport tenant after 2nd private manufacturer fails

Cape Girardeau is looking for an airport tenant for the second time in the past decade, after a private manufacturing company again went bankrupt.

The 52,500-square-foot building at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport has sat vacant since Commander Premier Aircraft Corporation was evicted in 2011, unable to pay its rent. The building was originally constructed to house Renaissance Aircraft, which folded in 2004.

The Southeast Missourian (bit.ly/13bAGgi ) reports that the city is now marketing the space with the help of a regional economic development group. City officials were forced to wait to fully market the building for lease or sale because it wasn't available after the Commander bankruptcy.

In 2011, the city opted to use nearly $1.7 million received from the purchase of property for Isle Casino Cape Girardeau to pay off bonds on the building to cover the shortfall created when Commander stopped making payments.

Short-term leases for small airplanes are being used by the airport to chip away at the money owed to the city's general revenue fund.

City manager Scott Meyer said Cape Girardeau prefers to sell the building outright.

"A sale proves that they are capitalized to the point of being liquid enough, and it also preserves the taxpayers" he said. "I don't think the council, or the city, is ready to help fund another poorly capitalized plane manufacturer. But if Boeing were to call us up and want to do one, that might be a different story."

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Information from: Southeast Missourian, http://www.semissourian.com