Air Tractor to buy Elm Street building to house ‘robust’ growth

Air Tractor asked to buy the city-owned building where it has been manufacturing critical parts for its airplanes for the past year, company president Jim Hirsch said at the city council meeting Monday.

The council unanimously agreed to convert Air Tractor’s existing two-year lease for the building at 302 East Elm Street to a lease-to-purchase agreement under the Texas Capital Fund Infrastructure and Real Estate Program, which aids companies that create jobs for low- and moderate-income Texans. The lease specifies that Air Tractor has 12 years to complete the purchase of the 7,500 square-foot building.

“It’s bringing additional jobs; it’s helping a current industry leader in our community continue to make airplanes, so it’s a win-win,” Mayor Rue Rogers said after the meeting.

Air Tractor asked the Olney Industrial Development Corporation for a shortterm lease of the building across from the U.S. Post office after a parts supplier called APPH in Wichita, Kansas went out of business last year.

“We found ourselves in quite a pickle a year ago when we got noticed by a vendor that builds the electric motor gearbox actuator for the wing flaps of the airplane that they were shutting down and ceasing operations, and basically turning their back on a lot of general aviation original equipment manufacturers,” Hirsch told the council. “So, I run to Wichita, Kansas, and we wind up buying this thing as a bolt-on for Air Tractor.”

Hirsch said that the new business created 45 to 50 new jobs last year at Air Tractor, with three of those employees now working at the Elm Street machine shop. He expected headcount to rise as Air Tractor expands its product line to include brake system components, fuel pump actuators and filters and possibly parts for a “pretty large” military contract the company has bid on with defense contractor L3Harris of Greenville, Texas. “We’ve got a really robust production schedule for the next two years,” he said.