FlyUSA, Paradise Ventures to control Clearwater Airpark

It’s clear skies ahead for FlyUSA and Paradise Ventures as the partners got the green light to become the new operator of the Clearwater Airpark. 

The group received unanimous approval from the city council Thursday evening to ink an initial five-year lease term through 2028, with one five-year unilateral renewal option, to become the operator of the 47-acre airpark at 1000 N. Hercules Ave. 

The decision comes after the 22-year lease terminated last year and the city was garnering interest from multiple firms seeking to become the new fixed-base operator. There was an offer from Clearwater Airpark Inc., which is connected to David King, the now-former operator, and a joint offer from FlyUSA, a full-service private aviation firm that specializes in on-demand air charter, and Paradise Ventures, a commercial real estate development company that owns the Sundial shopping complex in St. Petersburg.

Eric Gandy, the city’s marine and aviation director, reminded the council that the 80-year-old airpark, which badly needs repairs, was facing the decision of either operating the airpark at a loss or shuttering the airpark if a new operator didn’t step in.  

“It was a herculean task to navigate this and ensure we had a lease agreement that was a significant improvement from what we operate under now,” Gandy said. “Keeping this airpark as a public-use airport is critical to obtaining FDOT [Florida Department of Transportation] funding, number one, and it’s critical to countywide emergency management.” 

Gandy said FlyUSA and Paradise Ventures plan to pump $2.4 million of capital improvements into the airpark, which includes 40,000 square feet of additional corporate hangars, and would establish FlyUSA’s corporate offices at the property.

“This is difficult because I’ve had a relationship with King [the previous operator] for a long time and respect him. I do think we need to get reinvestment into the airpark, we want the airpark to exist because it’s an amenity for a lot of our citizens to have planes,” Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard said during the meeting. 

“Economically, it would probably be better to close it and put something new there to create more jobs, more taxes and everything else, which would obviously go to referendum … but like our marinas, recreation centers and libraries, they are all elements within the city that create our quality of life,” he said. 

An aerial of the Clearwater Airpark. Image: City of Clearwater.

Under the lease, it states the group must ensure the flight training operations remain while mitigating noise pollution and disturbance to nearby residential communities.  

FlyUSA and Paradise Ventures must also provide the current active tenants leasing space for aircraft with opportunities to continue leasing space. 

The airpark currently houses Tampa Bay Flight School, Vertical Flight and Tampa Bay Aviation, maintenance and operation services, and aircraft from private owners.

The flight school operations were a major topic among public speakers and council members.    

“If we had an RFP that made arbitrary restrictions on the flight school, number of plane operations and restrictions that limited the ability of an entity to operate it, we would’ve had no respondents,” Gandy said, explaining how the RFP and lease could not get into those specifics and the city wanted a firm that can leverage capital to improve the airpark.  

Currently, there aren’t restrictions placed on the flight school activity. However, the city has incorporated restrictions on the operations hours, and the number of aircraft in use to reduce the intensity, Gandy said. 

“No lease agreement is perfect, we can’t check every box here … we’ve made asks of them [FlyUSA and Paradise Ventures] and they agreed to them, but really they still need to negotiate a lease for the flight school, which generates 40% of our revenue,” Gandy said, stating flight schools are essential to making airparks financially viable.