Medina's finance committee has approved a motion to enter into a 45-year lease agreement with Cold Stream Air Services to build a 10-unit hangar facility at Medina Municipal Airport, a move city officials say addresses a long-running shortage of hangar space and a growing waitlist of pilots who want in.
Cold Stream Air Services, which already serves as the fixed-based operator and tenant at the airport, will construct the new facility and pay the city $150 a month in base rent, according to cleveland.com. The proposed building would match the size of the hangar that already sits in the airport's northwest corner, with five units on each side.
Law Director Greg Huber said the airport simply doesn't have room for everyone who wants in. “We don't have enough hangar facilities,” Huber said, according to the same report, pointing to a long list of prospective users still waiting for space.
Aging Hangars and a Push for More Planes
Beyond the new construction, the city has its sights set on two existing hangar rows at the airport that are in poor shape. Per Huber, the immediate goal after finishing the new 10-unit building would be to replace those two deteriorating rows entirely.
If that replacement happens alongside the new construction, the airport could end up with close to 100 aircraft on the field, officials say. Council President John Coyne framed the project as a two-for-one: more usage for an underutilized airport, plus a new revenue stream. “We need to get more usage out of the airport,” Coyne said, adding that renting out the hangars would bring in additional revenue to help fund airport operations.
A Grant Application Still in the Works
The hangar push follows months of groundwork. Medina has been pursuing state funding to help pay for new hangar construction at the airport, the city confirmed in an earlier report from cleveland.com. The maximum State of Ohio Airport Improvement Program grant tops out at $750,000 and requires a 10% local match, the outlet reported.
The Ohio Airport Improvement Program recently opened up to hangar projects, as Medina sought funding to address its need for more hangar space.
Context Across the Region
Medina isn't alone in grappling with hangar shortages. Nearby, Akron-Canton Airport has also moved to develop more hangar space, including construction of an airport-owned facility, after finding that a lack of available hangars was holding back activity on its airfield, according to the Akron-Canton Airport. Meanwhile, Wadsworth Municipal Airport took the opposite path: the city there began vacating 27 hangars after a 40-year lease expired without a new agreement in place, the Medina Gazette reported in late 2024.
Ohio has public-use aviation facilities statewide, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. For Medina, the newly approved lease marks a concrete step toward expanding capacity at a facility officials describe as underused but increasingly in demand.
