Summer Issue 2021 - 57

airport
communities
" We see ourselves as an economic engine for the region we serve, not just as a place
for people to come in and out of. "
-MYRON KEEHN, EDMONTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
contiguous to the airport was a major driver that
brought those inaugural anchors to Lake Nona. "
But the success of that effort prompted Tavistock
to think bigger, and the result was a vision of
a community filled with businesses that benefited
from proximity to the airport, from corporate and
aviation training facilities to e-commerce, and
people for whom easy access to air travel was a
plus as well. Nearly half of Lake Nona's roughly
20,000 inhabitants are professionals with advanced
degrees. " People really do value the connectivity
that an aerotropolis brings, " Weaver says.
One of the key ingredients of Lake Nona's success
has been the close cooperative relationship
that Tavistock has been able to build with the
Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which operates
the airport. " You have a very innovative, collaborative
authority that's huge and a massive amount of
land right next door held by a single landowner, "
Weaver says.
" Developing and maintaining relationships with
key community partners like Tavistock is important
as we all strive to diversify and strengthen the
region's economic foundation, " says Brad Friel, the
authority's director of planning and development.
" Certainly, the physical proximity of our campuses
lends itself to a natural association, but there is
also a philosophical alignment, and vision that is
shared throughout the community when it comes
to providing a forward-looking approach to future
growth needs. "
Other airport regions have developed distinctive
varieties of mixed-use development as well.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Airport
In Atlanta, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Airport has seen the extensive growth in logistics.
" It's basically a cargo city on the south side of ATL, "
explains Chris LeTourneur, president and CEO of
MXD Development Strategists, a Richmond, British
Columbia-based real estate consulting firm.
But LeTourneur, whose firm has done consulting
work for airports in areas ranging from Pittsburgh to
Australia's Gold Coast, notes that Atlanta's airport
has become a hub for television and moviemaking
facilities such as four-year-old Blackhall Studios, a
150-acre (60.7 ha) campus that includes 575,000
square feet (53,400 sq m) of space for set design,
special effects, and other activities. Blackhall, which
has hosted productions including the HBO series
Lovecraft Country and the film Godzilla: King of the
Monsters, is located just 10 miles (16 km) away
from Hartsfield-Jackson and 20 miles (32 km) from
DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, which can handle private
luxury and corporate jets. Movie and TV productions
" can get their people in and out quickly, "
LeTourneur notes.
" The proximity to the airport and the land we
had available really met the needs of these studio
production facilities, " says Shannon James, president
and CEO of the Aerotropolis Atlanta Alliance,
an organization that works with both local government
and the private sector. (The Atlanta Regional
Commission hired MXD in 2015 to draw up a blueprint
for development around the airport.)
There also is extensive mixed-use development
in the works near the airport. One such project is
Six West, a $1.5 billion, 311-acre (126 ha) community
in the city of College Park, just a few minutes' drive
from Hartsfield-Jackson. The project, which broke
ground in October 2020 with the first buildings
slated for completion in 2025 or 2026, will include
100 single-family homes, 260 multifamily units, 120
townhouses, 2.3 million square feet (214,000 sq m)
of office space, and 550,000 square feet (51,000
sq m) of retail and dining uses. " This site has been
landlocked for decades, " says James, who credits
College Park-which at this point is acting as the
master developer-with taking the initiative to get
the project rolling.
Edmonton International Airport
In Alberta, Canada, Edmonton International Airport
has leveraged its sprawling 7,000-acre (2,800 ha)
expanse to attract what might be the most diverse
assortment of businesses at any airport on the
planet. The roster includes a Chinese company that
makes solar-powered pumps and streetlights, a
cold-storage warehouse capable of handling fragile
high-value pharmaceuticals, an autonomous transportation
technology incubator, a horse-racing track
and casino, a shopping mall, and a skeet-shooting
range. There also is Aurora Sky, an 800,000-squareSUMMER
20 21
URBAN LAND
57
Summer Issue 2021

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