SEQUIM — Wanted: someone to buy a part of the whole — the Blue Hole.
That’s the fabled patch of fair sky above Sequim Valley Airport, where owner Andy Sallee would welcome new investors.
Sallee doesn’t want to walk away from the airfield his parents opened and which he is likely to pass to his son, Daniel, a pilot for Alaska Airlines who holds a degree in airport management.
Nor does he want to see it become anything more than what he calls “neighbor-friendly.”
Still, some new money to add hangars, perhaps a cafe, maybe even a meeting center, would be welcome, he said, at the 190-acre site at 468 Dorothy Hunt Lane.
“My family, along with a number of investors, would like to find a buyer who would buy part of the airport,” said Sallee, 55.
Jack and Winifrid Sallee, their four sons and about a dozen investors built Sequim Valley Airport in 1983, carefully locating it away from the foggy Strait of Juan de Fuca and the gusty Olympic Mountains.
Over the years, the Sallees’ partners bequeathed their shares in the airfield to their heirs, who now number 25, Sallee said, adding that some no longer care about the operation.
“I would like to sell maybe half the airport, to get a partner to come in to improve the roads, maybe put in some small hangars, maybe an event center,” he said, “with big glass doors and a view of the mountains where people could go and have a wedding.
“We’ve got a really nice view of the runway from most locations. It’s a nice, quiet place.”
It’s too nice and quiet, he said, for a flight school or air races, although the annual Air Affaire two weekends ago drew about 2,000 people to the field despite windy weather across the rest of the North Olympic Peninsula.
And he’d certainly not sell a controlling interest to someone who would put Sequim Valley Airport out of the aviation business.
Sequim Valley Airport averages about 21 takeoffs and landings a day.
“It’s kind of cool the way it is. It’s a small country airport,” Sallee said, although he could add 10 new hangars to the present 20, based on requests from pilots who now tie down their planes on exposed ground.
“Building hangars is a sizable project, getting permits and funding,” he said.
“I personally don’t have the money.”
Sallee said he didn’t immediately know how much the airfield was worth, but building an entirely new one “to the scope that we’ve done” would cost $10 million to $15 million.
He said he might have more accurate figures for the annual stockholders meeting, set for November.
Sequim Valley Airport has no employees outside the Sallee family, and although it may be worth a lot as raw land, he said, “the airport itself only breaks even.”
Sallee said interested parties should visit the “Investors” tab in the “About” drop-down menu on the airport’s website, www.sequimvalleyairport.com.
But they needn’t think they can push his family out from under the Blue Hole.
“Our future looks really bright,” Sallee said. “We’re excited about the airport. We want to keep our family in it.
“My parents were both involved in it. We love it. It’s part of our life.
“I would certainly like to see somebody partner with me to do some cool things.
“But I’m not looking to sell the whole thing and walk away. I’m not looking to just get rid of it.”
_______
Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
