Spokane Turbine Center, a Spokane -based nonprofit that provides operational and mechanical training for missionary pilots of turbine-engine planes, has been granted right of first refusal for two parcels of land on the west end of Felts Field for a possible facility expansion, says Dennis Elrod, CEO of Spokane Turbine. 

As part of the right of first refusal arrangement, Spokane Turbine will pay $2,500 annually to the Spokane International Airport, which owns the land, says airport spokesman Todd Woodard. The amount represents 10 percent of the annual rent for both parcels, Woodard says. The term for the right of first refusal started July 1 and lasts four years. 

Specifically, says Woodard, Spokane Turbine will retain the rights to one 34,700-square-foot parcel and another almost 61,300-square-foot parcel. Together, they equate to more than two acres of land. The right of first refusal means that if another party makes an offer to lease the land, the airport must give Spokane Turbine the first option to do so.

Spokane Turbine currently leases two adjacent buildings at 5627 Rutter at Felts Field with a total of 29,000 square feet of floor space, Elrod says. One building houses its administration offices, and the other is a training hangar. 

“Between the two buildings, we are probably at about 13 full-time employees,” Elrod says. 

Spokane Turbine, which opened in 2007, has a few different training programs, Elrod says. One is a five-year undergraduate aviation technician license program that Spokane Turbine runs in conjunction with Moody Aviation, the Spokane branch of the Chicago-based Moody Bible Institute. About 50 students are in that program, he says. 

“The students become licensed mechanics for airplanes,” Elrod says. “They then go on to other Moody facilities east of us to do flight training.”

Spokane Turbine also does a three-week intensive turbine engine operations training program, he says. About 70 people attend that program every year, he says. 

Elrod says the nonprofit doesn’t yet have any specific designs for the facility expansion, nor a timeline for the expansion. 

“Right now we’re kind of in the planning phase,” he says. “Part of our getting ready for whatever it’s going to be is we wanted to work with the airport to retain some options on those properties. It’s a great opportunity for the airport; those properties are just sitting there and they’re getting some revenue for (them). It’s good for us because the airport has to talk to us before they lease to anyone else.”