Tinker set to rent former GM plant
Oklahoma County: Air Force approves agreement
The property will change hands after commissioners vote today
Tinker set to rent former GM plant
By Johnny Johnson
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Published: September 24, 2008
After months of work on contracts with General Motors and the U.S. Air Force, Oklahoma County commissioners learned Tuesday the Air Force would allow the county to buy the abandoned GM plant for $54 million and lease it to Tinker Air Force Base for $1 a year.
Commissioners will vote on the contract this morning, and Tinker is expected to take possession of the property later today.
"It all gets really exciting from this point forward,” District 3
Commissioner Ray Vaughn said.
Although the Air Force can buy the plant at any time, it is not required to do so. Vaughn said he thinks using taxpayer funds to support the local base was in taxpayers' best interests.
"The Air Force could not have done it themselves,” Vaughn said. "They could not have come up with the resources to acquire the property.”
When the final agreement is signed, the county will pay $54 million for the 430 acres of land and the 3.8-million-square-foot plant, then turn over the facility to Tinker, which is expected to spend from $50 million to $100 million in improvements. Because of that anticipated investment, Vaughn said he expects the Air Force to buy the plant within 10 years .
"Right now, the Air Force is fighting wars on two fronts, plus maintaining all their other installations. There's just no money to go out and acquire real estate, even by lease,” Vaughn said.
"This lease agreement is a $1-a-year deal that the citizens of Oklahoma County are doing for the Air Force.”
Continuing support
County officials felt confident with the , Vaughn said, because Tinker Air Force Base is the "chief economic engine in Oklahoma County.”
He said the air base is the largest single-site employer in the county, bringing in about $3.4 billion every year.
The initial plant closing,with difficulty finding a buyer and the base nearby, led to what Vaughn said was a perfect solution.
"Oklahoma County, historically, from the day we provided that first acre of land for the air strip at Tinker until today, has made a commitment to the base to support the Air Force and all the military units that work out of there,” he said.
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Tinker is more than just land and buildings, it is people. The real challenge for this community is not just to be sure that Tinker has room to grow, but more importantly to make sure that Tinker has the best educated people to fill the jobs there.
The county says that the money that the schools lose will be made-up from the state formula. But not all and they do it by taking money from every other school in the state. And the money for the MDTC and Rose will not be made-up at all. The county says that future development will makeup this money, but future development will not pay today’s bills. Before this purchase goes though they need a plan.