News Article | 5/25/2004

Firm Hopes To Land Flights

Riverside Press Enterprise05/25/04

FIRM HOPES TO LAND FLIGHTS SAN BERNARDINO: A Texas company wants to build a cargo distribution facility at the old Norton base.

By PHIL PITCHFORD / The Press-EnterpriseHillwood, the company that has attracted three major warehouse and distribution facilities to the former Norton Air Force Base, will spend much of this year working to attract regularly scheduled cargo flights to San Bernardino.The Dallas-based company hopes to build a 240,000-square-foot cargo distribution facility on 35 acres east of Leland Norton Way near the northern boundary of San Bernardino International Airport, according to a report prepared for the airport authority’s governing board.The airport authority is being asked to grant Hillwood a limited degree of control over the land through Oct. 1 so that the company may pursue an arrangement that could bring as many as 10 cargo flights per day to the airport. The airport authority is scheduled to vote on the proposed agreement at its 3 p.m. meeting Wednesday at Loma Linda City Hall. The majority of the 35-acre site is on the airport tarmac north of the existing terminal building and south of a U.S. Forest Service facility on Third Street, according to the airport authority. Two structures would have to be demolished and access to surrounding streets and freeways would be needed. Hillwood officials, who could not be reached for comment, helped bring FedEx to the airport in 2002, when the air cargo giant used San Bernardino International to deliver about $70 million worth of racing equipment for a CART race at California Speedway in Fontana. An established cargo operation in San Bernardino would dovetail with Hillwood’s announced intention to transform the former base into AllianceCalifornia, a planned 9 million-square-foot industrial park and cargo center.The company previously developed AllianceTexas, a 15,000-acre cargo airport north of Fort Worth. FedEx operates a cargo hub at that airport.