Airport to get new hangar: fourth tenant arrives at North Bay business park.

• Author: Ross, Ian

Comsatec, a Callander-based energy management firm, is joining the parade of companies heading up to the new business park at North Bay's Jack Garland Airport.

The company will build a 20,000-square-foot hangar this spring to provide leasing space opportunities for aircraft.

Comsatec principal and founder Paul Waque Sr. believes North Bay has great potential to be an aviation transportation hub and a staging base for future development in the Far North.

"We don't intend to be competitive with anyone that's already doing business in North Bay, but we will develop new business to the First Nation communities and the mining industry"

Last July, North Bay city council approved the sale of three acres of airside property to Comsatec with an option for an additional 1.3 acres.

The pre-engineered building has been purchased and Don Seguin Contracting of North Bay will be erecting the hangar once the ground thaws, likely April 1.

Waque figures it will be available for leasing by early August.

The project represents a $2.5-million investment for Comsatec with a possibility of a further $1 million contribution coming from the province.

Waque, who started his company in 1988 in the basement of his Callander home, outside North Bay, said the hangar development has nothing to do with their main business of being an agent and consultant for industrial and large commercial energy consumers.

"We wanted to diversify and we see business that North Bay is missing out on." said Waque, who once apprenticed in his younger days as a jet engine mechanic for KLM Airlines.

Aviation has always been a sideline venture for Comsatec, which leases three Bell Ranger helicopters to Helicopters Canada in North Bay.

With space for Dash 8 aircraft, Waque said there will be leasing opportunities and more than 7,200 square feet of...