PORT ANGELES — The city and port are both ready to help Angeles Composite Technologies Inc. with an expanded facility in light of an extension of the firm’s contract with Lockheed Martin.
The extension likely will mean that ACTI will need a new 60,000- to 100,000-square-foot facility, said Port of Port Angeles interim director Bill James.
ACTI president and CEO Michael Rauch — who was out of the area and not available for comment on Wednesday, and who did not return messages to his cell phone — said last month that the growth in the company eventually could double the number of employees for ACTI, which now has about 100 workers.
ACTI, which is in the third year of a three-year partnership with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Material Management in making parts for airplanes, has a five- to 10-year extension of that partnership, James said.
The extension will require the construction of a new facility near the present complex on port property near William R. Fairchild International Airport, James added.
The city of Port Angeles also is ready to assist with utilities and services, City Manager Kent Myers said.
Port Angeles City Council member Karen Rogers, speaking as a private citizen to the Port of Port Angeles board Tuesday, urged support of the expansion.
James and John Calhoun, port commission president, said that the new massive building would have to be finished in about two years, once it is begun.
“In construction terms that is very, very fast,” James said.
Makes parts
ACTI currently makes parts for Air Force F-22 Raptor aircraft and is working on certification for F-35 Lightning II aircraft, Rauch said last month.
Said James: “My understanding is, even just with the F-22, he is maxed out at the current facility.
“So if he gets the F-35 too, he’ll need all the space he can get.”
Calhoun said that both the port and Rauch are awaiting more information from Lockheed.
“An assurance from a major government contractor is very convincing,” he said.
Calhoun said that the port was ready to work with the company.
Although the port has not been asked formally to build the structure — Rauch will have to talk to his board of directors and other preparations made first — Calhoun said that it is likely that the port would build the structure.
Port likely to build
“If this does all come together, we’ll do everything we can to meet his schedule,” Calhoun said.
The port probably would issue revenue bonds to build the structure, Calhoun and James both said.
The bonds would then be repaid through a long-term lease with ACTI, Calhoun said.
Myers said that until the design and construction of the building are further along, it is unclear what that means.
“They are building on the 13 acres the port already owns adjacent to the airport, which we already provide services to,” Myers said.
“But we are just not sure what their demands will be, particularly with electricity.
“But we have agreed to work with them to accommodate their needs.”
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
