The city of St. Petersburg is hiring a consulting firm to take a look at the economic and social impact of Albert Whitted Airport. The idea: to determine whether the 120-acre downtown property could be used as something else. Larry McConnell is a flight instructor at St. Pete Air, which is based at Albert Whitted. "There's quite a bit of revenue that comes into the airport for the hangar restaurant and for the flight school, as well as airplanes that are chartered in here."
St. Pete's Director of Economic and Workforce Development, Brian Caper, suggests that there may be options. "It could be anything from maybe more affordable and workforce housing to an extension of the Innovation District or park space. We'd like to hear from the community. If it isn't an airport, what else would they like it to be?"
Albert Whitted opened in the summer of 1929, and is recognized as the birthplace of scheduled commercial aviation.
The study is expected to take about 6 months.
photo: Getty Images