Story ID: 
Enterprise Jet Center mushrooms at Houston
By: Mark Phelps
Caption: Lease hangar space now from Enterprise Jet Center at Houston Hobby Airport and you can monitor construction of your airplane’s new home via webcam.
Word Count: 303
Lease hangar space now from Enterprise Jet Center at Houston Hobby Airport and you can monitor construction of your airplane’s new home via webcam. The Enterprise site (www.entaircen.com) has a link to the webcam where you can observe the $7.5 million project under way.And quite a project it is. In business since 1979, Enterprise lives up to its name by increasing six-fold the size of its footprint on the airport. The new complex will include some 300,000 sq ft under roof on 16 acres. Enterprise signed a 30-year lease, including a pair of five-year options, with the Houston Airport System. The new facility is scheduled to open next spring, after which the current 54,000-sq-ft facility site on the airport’s southeast corner will become a maintenance shop.Following the current style, particularly with southern FBOs, Enterprise’s plans include a huge 9,750-sq-ft canopy in front of the main terminal. It will be able to accommodate arrivals of aircraft the size of a Global Express. Also in the works is an 85,000-sq-ft pass-through hangar with 28-foot doors at either end and walls rated to withstand a 96-knot, Texas-size breeze. The 175,000-sq-ft ramp will be stressed to handle Boeing 737s, with additional ramp space set aside for even larger aircraft.Passengers disembarking under the canopy will then enter a 28,500-sq-ft terminal/office complex with a two-story atrium lobby featuring airside views. Inside, pilots will find snooze rooms, showers, comfort rooms and two media rooms with large-screen flat-panel television monitors. Waiting passengers will have access to a 500-sq-ft conference room, private business offices, a concierge and custom catering services. Wireless Internet access will be available throughout the facility.Future plans call for acquiring an FAA repair station certificate, adding 80,000 sq ft of ramp space and building a 47,500-sq-ft hangar capable of housing three Boeing Business Jets.