Aviation View | April 2021

144 AVIATION VIEW APRIL 2021 funding. There are three privately-owned hangars on the airport now, and we have had requests from people to do build their own, but when they find out the costs involved for stormwater infrastructure, etc. they change their mind. We do have the infrastructure, utilities and all, for three, maybe four more buildings. It was put in after the last time we built hangars at the end of 2015. We already spent the money for the site plan and it’s ready to go but finding the funding is the only stumbling block. The property was set aside for this hangar project and we built one, six- unit building on the site but the earth work was done and the utilities are in place for four more buildings. It’s shovel ready.” There are also 100 acres of prime property accessible to the airport that could be developed. “A longer runway would definitely bring more business into Fayette County,” says Neckerauer. “We have an industrial park right across from the airport that’s been finished for about seven years and it’s sitting empty but there is some interest in it now. We are working on extending airport after him. We wouldn’t be in the shape we are if it wasn’t for Joe.” 84 Lumber is the largest privately-owned building materials suppliers in the U.S. Joseph A. Hardy III, founded the company in 1956 in the rural town of Eighty Four, PA and turned it over to his daughter Maggie in 1992 when she was just 26 years old. A year later, the company exceeded $1 billion in sales. Today, the company operates 250 stores in 30 states. Maggie Hardy Knox also owns the spectacular Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, a huge asset to the local economy and the tourism sector for the region. Many people that fly into the airport on private aircraft have a vacation at the resort as their destination. The airport hosts 64 home-based aircraft and has a waiting list for hangar space. Neckerauer explains, “We are our own FBO and we raise revenue for the airport through fuel sales and hangar rent. We need hangars badly but that requires