NEW YORK: Montgomery County’s purchasing department will present bid opening numbers next month for construction on the U.S. Customs facility at the Lone Star Executive Airport in Conroe.
County officials anticipate construction costs to be roughly $2.3 million, just under the $2.4 million budgeted for the project.
The facility would allow international customers to fly directly into LSEA and pass through U.S. Customs, making it the farthest point north of Houston to allow international arrivals and departures. This type of service is available at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Sugar Land Regional Airport and the William P. Hobby Airport.
Last year, Montgomery County, the city of Conroe and The Woodlands Township had agreed to participate in the regional project. Conroe and the township were going to contribute 25 percent of the project costs at up to $600,000 each. Galaxy FPO, which operates at the airport, also is providing $600,000 for the facility.
But LSEA Director Scott Smith said the county has been treading water since The Woodlands Township backed out of their decision before the November election.
Township board members cited communication breakdowns with the county on the conditions of agreements as the reason for rescinding the commitment in October.
The airport still has commitments from Black Forest Ventures and Conroe of up to $600,000. Smith said the county is going to fund whatever they need to in order to make the Customs facility a reality.
Smith told the Conroe Industrial Development Corporation on Thursday that with Black Forest’s contribution, the county and city would likely spend $1,917,183 on the project.
“My belief is that we are going to be moving forward with this project,” Smith said. “The county’s anticipating opening this next spring for business and it’s a big part of our marketing effort for the future and very important to the county. So I’m sure this is going to move forward.”
Rebranding for anticipated growth
The airport is also undergoing a rebranding exercise.
Smith said to “expect an announcement here in the next couple of weeks about a major rebranding at the airport.”
Last month, he told the CIDC there is interest in changing the airport’s name to make it clear where the facility is located.
“It’s become apparent to the county that there’s difficulty in marketing the airport with the current name,” Smith said. “What we’ve found in the industry is that there’s a lot of people that will look at the name of the airport when they’re visiting and say, ’Gosh, where is that?’ So we’re thinking about changing the name in the not-so distant future to reflect to the industry where we are located. …
“I can’t really offer any suggestions at this point but I do believe that we have support for name change that would include the name ’Conroe’ in it. However that name would come out and however the county commissioners would look at various names that they could consider, I think there’s strong support to identify us with Conroe.”
Smith added that it’s obvious the growth in the area is going to be tremendous and things are going to look different in 25 years.
Conroe was recently named one of the fastest growing U.S. cities.
Montgomery County is expected to nearly double its population to one million by 2035.
“If we look at the role of the airport in the next 20 to 25 years, it’d probably smart to identify the airport with where we’re actually located and the growth that’s going to occur over this next period of time,” Smith said.
LSEA has more than 156 international flights, with most of those doing business in Montgomery County.
Those flights originate from 13 different countries.
The airport generates about a $33.5 million economic benefit annually to the county. Officials have said the customs facility could add an additional $5.7 million benefit.
