Richards-Gebaur Memorial Airport | Kansas City, MO
Richards-Gebaur began as Grandview Airport in 1941. During World War II it was used by the Army and Navy, and during the Cold War it became a major Air Force installation. After the military base was deactivated, the airport property was returned to Kansas City in the 1980s. The city then operated Richards-Gebaur as a public-use general-aviation airport serving primarily privately owned aircraft.
By the 1980s and 1990s, however, the airport had become a significant financial burden for Kansas City. Between 1983 and 1997, the city lost more than $18 million operating the airport, with losses projected to continue at more than $1.5 million annually. The city argued that the property had considerably greater economic-development potential if it were converted to another use.
The proposed alternative was particularly attractive because of the property's location next to rail infrastructure. Kansas City wanted to turn the former airport into an intermodal freight facility, allowing cargo to be transferred between trucks and trains. The city therefore applied to the FAA in 1997 for permission to close the airport and be released from the federal obligations that had accompanied previous federal airport grants and the transfer of the property to the city. The FAA approved the closure plan in 1998, and Richards-Gebaur Airport closed in 1999.
The closure was controversial. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association opposed it, arguing that Kansas City was eliminating a general-aviation airport in favor of an intermodal freight facility. AOPA specifically argued that the site could potentially have accommodated both aviation and freight uses.
There was also a significant legal fight. Because Kansas City had received federal Airport Improvement Program money and had accepted federal obligations to maintain the property for public aviation, opponents challenged the FAA's decision to release the city from those obligations. In 2001, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the FAA's decision, allowing the airport to close and the property to be redeveloped.
The former airport has gradually become a large industrial, logistics and rail-intermodal complex rather than one single replacement project.
The central component is the International Freight Gateway, a rail intermodal facility associated with Canadian Pacific Kansas City (formerly Kansas City Southern). Cargo containers can be transferred between trains and trucks there. The former airport's runways and aviation facilities have been progressively removed to make room for freight infrastructure.
Around that facility, the former airport/base property has been redeveloped into an extensive industrial and distribution area. In 2007, for example, about 317 acres were sold to CenterPoint Properties for industrial, distribution, light-manufacturing and warehouse development.
More recently, the area has continued to expand. Kansas City's Port KC describes the redevelopment as a manufacturing and advanced-logistics hub, and the former base is now being marketed as 49 Crossing. Industrial buildings have been constructed for logistics and manufacturing tenants, with additional development agreements entered into in the 2020s.
There is also a significant federal component to the redevelopment. The Kansas City National Security Campus, operated for the National Nuclear Security Administration, was developed on part of the former Richards-Gebaur property. Construction began around 2010, with major facilities completed in the following years.
The city's documented case for closure was not simply that the airport was obsolete. The city had quantified a substantial continuing operating deficit and concluded that the land had greater economic-development value in another use. The federal court record explicitly describes the airport's more-than-$18-million cumulative operating loss and the city's desire to redevelop the property as an intermodal freight center.
And unlike an airport being replaced by another airport, Richards-Gebaur ultimately became a productive non-aviation transportation and industrial complex—which makes it a useful comparison when examining the opportunity cost of continuing to operate a municipally owned general-aviation airport.
By the 1980s and 1990s, however, the airport had become a significant financial burden for Kansas City. Between 1983 and 1997, the city lost more than $18 million operating the airport, with losses projected to continue at more than $1.5 million annually. The city argued that the property had considerably greater economic-development potential if it were converted to another use.
The proposed alternative was particularly attractive because of the property's location next to rail infrastructure. Kansas City wanted to turn the former airport into an intermodal freight facility, allowing cargo to be transferred between trucks and trains. The city therefore applied to the FAA in 1997 for permission to close the airport and be released from the federal obligations that had accompanied previous federal airport grants and the transfer of the property to the city. The FAA approved the closure plan in 1998, and Richards-Gebaur Airport closed in 1999.
The closure was controversial. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association opposed it, arguing that Kansas City was eliminating a general-aviation airport in favor of an intermodal freight facility. AOPA specifically argued that the site could potentially have accommodated both aviation and freight uses.
There was also a significant legal fight. Because Kansas City had received federal Airport Improvement Program money and had accepted federal obligations to maintain the property for public aviation, opponents challenged the FAA's decision to release the city from those obligations. In 2001, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the FAA's decision, allowing the airport to close and the property to be redeveloped.
The former airport has gradually become a large industrial, logistics and rail-intermodal complex rather than one single replacement project.
The central component is the International Freight Gateway, a rail intermodal facility associated with Canadian Pacific Kansas City (formerly Kansas City Southern). Cargo containers can be transferred between trains and trucks there. The former airport's runways and aviation facilities have been progressively removed to make room for freight infrastructure.
Around that facility, the former airport/base property has been redeveloped into an extensive industrial and distribution area. In 2007, for example, about 317 acres were sold to CenterPoint Properties for industrial, distribution, light-manufacturing and warehouse development.
More recently, the area has continued to expand. Kansas City's Port KC describes the redevelopment as a manufacturing and advanced-logistics hub, and the former base is now being marketed as 49 Crossing. Industrial buildings have been constructed for logistics and manufacturing tenants, with additional development agreements entered into in the 2020s.
There is also a significant federal component to the redevelopment. The Kansas City National Security Campus, operated for the National Nuclear Security Administration, was developed on part of the former Richards-Gebaur property. Construction began around 2010, with major facilities completed in the following years.
The city's documented case for closure was not simply that the airport was obsolete. The city had quantified a substantial continuing operating deficit and concluded that the land had greater economic-development value in another use. The federal court record explicitly describes the airport's more-than-$18-million cumulative operating loss and the city's desire to redevelop the property as an intermodal freight center.
And unlike an airport being replaced by another airport, Richards-Gebaur ultimately became a productive non-aviation transportation and industrial complex—which makes it a useful comparison when examining the opportunity cost of continuing to operate a municipally owned general-aviation airport.