Lakeland Linder International Airport tried to find a private vendor to open a small concession shop beyond its new Transportation Security Administration checkpoint.
The answer from all the businesses it pitched: We’ll pass.
Fortunately, the Aerospace Center for Excellence next to the airport was interested. The nonprofit organization already operates at least three small shops: a camp store, concession area and souvenir island at the Florida Air Museum. It has a vested interest in the airport’s growth and it could use any proceeds to support educational programs.
Lakeland’s City Commission voted unanimously Monday to grant ACE a three-year lease for a 290-square-foot retail space inside the terminal’s secure passenger lounge.
A tough business proposition
High risk, low reward: At busy airports, concession shops do very well selling drinks, sandwiches, books, phone chargers and neck pillows to a captive audience of travelers.
But Lakeland Linder is hardly a busy airport. When Avelo’s commercial passenger service begins on June 13, Lakeland will have two flights weekly to New Haven, Connecticut. The shop will only be accessible to ticketed passengers who have cleared security and authorized personnel.
The airport expects to add more flights over time — potentially in the coming fall or winter. But Director Kris Hallstrand acknowledged that the concession is a high-risk, low-reward proposition, at least in the first year.
“We talked to a bunch of folks; nobody’s interested,” Hallstrand told commissioners on Friday. One private sector player offered a bank of vending machines. “And I hated that,” she said.
A mutually beneficial solution
‘Synergy’: Hallstrand said she was discussing the problem with former Airport Director Gene Conrad — who is now president and CEO of the Aerospace Center and Sun ‘n Fun.
“He says, ‘What if we did it?’ I looked at him and said, ‘You want to?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah,’” Hallstrand recalled. “If you think about it, talk about synergy, right? I mean, we’re huge contributors and supporters of aviation programs over at ACE. This gives us an opportunity to help them also raise more money for their programs.”
Shop hours: At a minimum, the shop must be open whenever the TSA screening checkpoint is active, and it must remain open until 15 minutes after the last passenger has left the hold room. Initially, that will mean Thursdays and Sundays, when Avelo’s flights are scheduled.
The terms: The monthly rent for the space is $532 including utilities. The contract says “due to the start-up nature of this business,” rent will be waived for the first year. However, the Aerospace Center will have to pay the airport 12% of its gross revenue.
Hallstrand said 12% is a customary concession fee. “So we really made that agreement as we would make it for any other vendor,” she said. “But we used common sense and some logic to mitigate some risks and help them achieve their goal, and also achieve our goal … I think it’s a great deal.”
The Aerospace Center will get a 50% rent credit for any improvements it makes to the space, up to $25,000. Moveable items like coolers and security cameras are not eligible, but permanent things like flooring, built-in display cabinets, wall coverings and signage would count.
Easy exit: The food, beverage and retail concession is non-exclusive. If the airport gets busier, more vendors could come. If things don’t work out, the contract has a generous exit clause. Either the city or the Aerospace Center can terminate the agreement “for any reason” with 30 days written notice.
Praise from commissioners: “I love it … the whole tie to Aerospace and having them be creative with revenue streams,” Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley said. “The synergy of it all — of having students that are going to benefit from the sales.”
“This is wise,” Mayor Bill Mutz said. “It’s going to be an expectation of those who are flying to be able to have something to chew on while they are waiting.”
The Aerospace Center for Excellence
The Aerospace Center for Excellence has a 25-acre,14-building campus southwest of the airport.
What is the Aerospace Center? It’s a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that gets about 80% of its funding from the annual Sun ‘n Fun expo. It is dedicated to aerospace and STEM education with outreach programs, field trips, interactive laboratories, scholarships and summer camps. It reaches about 50,000 students a year and is a world leader in producing licensed teenage private pilots.
The center is home to the:
- Florida Air Museum, established as the state’s official aviation museum in 2005.
- Central Florida Aerospace Academy, a public high school for grades 9-12 that opened in August 2008.
- Skylab Innovation Center, an interactive classroom space that opened in August 2021 with flight simulators, a drone laboratory and Science on a Sphere system.
- ELEVATE Aerospace & Logistics Business Incubator, a coworking space and mentor network that opened in April 2022.
- Lakeland Aero Club, touted as the world’s largest high school flying club.
- Buehler Restoration and Skills Center, a working aircraft restoration and preservation facility with educational programming.
- Piedmont Experience – a classroom inside a functioning Boeing 727 airplane donated by FedEx.
- Tom Davis Education Center, a 5,200-square-foot building for workshops and conferences.
- Aerospace Pavilion, a 10,000-square-foot outdoor amphitheater completed in 2001.
- Camp Duffy, a year-round tent and RV camping site.
Looking ahead: The city is negotiating to buy 31 acres south of the airport from Morgan Creek Properties LLC. Instead of the planned 74 homes, the land would be used for future airport expansion and noise buffering. The Aerospace Center is interested in leasing 11 acres of it. The airport plans to build a parallel runway at some point that will displace some of ACE’s buildings, according to Hallstrand.
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Was it ever considered putting it on this side of the TSA so that everyone can get something aka while you wait to pick someone up from the airport.