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Private Firm Wants to Tear Down Torpedo Building, Build Hangar on Site

Greta Mart

 It finally looks like the historic but dangerous Torpedo Building will be demolished at the Unalaska Airport. The private sector is stepping up to the plate with plans for an aircraft hangar, saving a fortune in public funding that's increasingly hard to find in a time of heavy budget cutting. 

Windblown debris from the vintage structure poses major safety concerns.

According to the Alaska Department of Transportation, the new owner would get the building and a 55-year lease for free, but would be required to build a hangar worth at least $375,000 within two years. The state would contribute $200,000 for the environmental cleanup of asbestos, lead paint and spilled diesel fuel.

Jim Miller, a longtime player in the local aviation business, wants to build a hangar for storing an airline's aircraft on the site next to the longterm parking lot. Miller is the owner of Alaska Weather Observation Services, which provides weather information to planes flying into Unalaska/Dutch Harbor from an office inside the terminal.

Miller said he has 50 years of aviation experience in Unalaska, and spent 30 years with the former Reeve Aleutian Airlines. The Torpedo Building, he said, once housed airport maintenance equipment operated by Reeve.

Miller's plans call for a hangar 120 feet long by 90 feet wide.  The public comment period ended January 20.

Finding public funding could have been hard, in a period of state and federal budget cuts, DOT spokeswoman Jill Reese said last year. She said low oil prices were hurting state finances, and the federal government has dramatically less money available for airport projects. 

And local officials feared that without state funding, the city of Unalaska might have to pay the bill.

The demolition project's estimated cost is $1.3 million, according to Reese, who said that $600,000 has already been spent on studying the problem.

During World War II, the Torpedo Building's targets were enemy shipping. The bombs were handled by an overhead crane and loaded onto aircraft, and dropped into the sea.

More recently, the victims were motor vehicles in the airport's long-term parking lot. The long-term airport parking lot was closed following the February, 2014 storm, at the request of the city ports department, fearing further damage to vehicles, or harm to people. The long-term lot was re-opened last year.

The Unalaska City Council has wanted it taken down for the past 15 years. 

Credit Greta Mart
The Torpedo Building is adjacent to the Dutch Harbor airport.

The Unalaska Historic Preservation Commission in 2014 recommended the demolition of the dangerously decaying building, which was built in 1942. The commission, though, recommended salvaging intact material of historical significance for preservation and public display. It also called for an interpretive sign at the site, explaining the history. The Federal Aviation Administration supported demolition, even while it called for further historic review which delayed the building's removal. The Torpedo Building is part of a National Historic Landmark.

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