A minimum 88,000-square-foot hangar expansion project is set to be built at Chandler Municipal Airport after City Council unanimously approved a 30-year lease agreement in June.
One of the dozens of items approved when the Chandler City Council greenlighted its June 25 consent agenda involved one of the larger Chandler Municipal Airport expansions in recent years.
An LLC called CHD Curtis East, formed by Dark Horse Aviation to perform hangar development and create on-site business in Arizona, was approved to build about 88,000- square-feet of hangars on about five acres at Chandler Municipal Airport.
Airport Director Ryan Reeves said the expansion will allow for more options for the mid-size private planes the airport already services.
“The (outdoor) tie-downs are for the smallest aircraft, but for the next step up in size, we don’t currently have a lot of options,” Reeves said.
The roughly 4.8 acres where the construction will take place is on taxi lane-adjacent land along the airport’s northern fence and has never been developed, a staff report states. It was acquired with FAA funding in 2002.
Airport staff issued a request for proposal in June 2025, requiring a minimum lease rate of at least 45 cents per square foot per year. A selection committee later unanimously selected Dark Horse from among four bids submitted.
The lease, approved by council in an ordinance, includes an initial term of 30 years with a single 10-year extension option.
CHD Curtis has 24 months to build no fewer than 10 standard executive hangars, four large executive hangars, and two extra-large executive hangars, for a minimum square footage of 88,000 in new hangar space.
The lease rate will be 60 cents per square foot per year, a staff report states, with annual escalators starting after the lease’s third year.
Another provision of the lease is that the city receives 1% of every prepaid rental agreement with Curtis exceeding 10 years.
The Chandler Airport Commission voted 5-0 to recommend council approval of the lease and plan at a special May 26 meeting.
Reeves said proposals to extend the airport’s main runway are not connected to the hangar expansion. He said the hangars and the anticipated new repair station that goes with them will simply allow the airport to offer more services and more perks to more aircraft owners whose planes already use Chandler-size runways.
“It’s within our master plan to accommodate more aircraft, grow logistics and make the airport as economically resilient as it can be,” Reeves said.
Reeves said progress on waiting lists for places to store aircraft at Chandler Municipal, including the contacting and convincing of owners of unused or seldom-used aircraft on-site, has been made, but there’s still a long way to go.
“We’ve gone from the top (longest-waiting) person at 20 years, to where that person is at 10 years,” Reeves said. “It might take a while to move that list. But this hangar expansion is exactly the kind of development that will help move the list.”
Jason W. Brooks News Editor | Chandler Independent
Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.
Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.
Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.
Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.
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