NASA Finds Leasing a Viable Preservation Strategy at Moffett Federal Airfield California
CASE STUDY
The Section 111 lease with Planetary Ventures stipulates the reskinning of historic Hangar 1 at NASA's Ames Research Center, within MFA in Silicon Valley, California. (NASA)
Ventures was able to adopt a reuse design for Hangar 1 that was reminiscent of the original hangar skin. Work on recladding the structure began in mid-2022 and is currently in progress. Cleaning, repainting, and upgrades to the entire hangar are scheduled to be completed by 2025. Engineers anticipate Hangar 1 will resemble its original visual characteristics as closely as possible once fully restored. Conversely, under this same lease with Planetary Ventures, NASA concluded consultation with the California SHPO on the demolition of Hangar 3. NASA’s structural engineering studies determined that Hangar 3 was structurally deficient, unsafe, and vulnerable to damage or partial collapse and that repair to return the building to occupancy would be extensive and cost prohibitive. NASA executed a memorandum of agreement with the California SHPO and the ACHP to resolve those adverse effects, which included Historic American Engineering Record documentation of the hangar. The long-term lease of Hangar 1 and MFA exhibits how the private sector can collaborate with the government to reposition and manage federally owned property. NASA’s lease at MFA exemplifies the dynamic of compromise that federal agencies must navigate.
Hangar 1 during recladding (NASA)
Monument and as a California Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. In 1994, Hangar 1 and the rest of Moffett Field were transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Ames Research Center. In 2014, NASA, with the assistance of the General Services Administration (GSA), entered into a Section 111 lease agreement with Planetary Ventures, LLC for the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of Hangar 1 and for operation, management, and maintenance of MFA. Agencies like NASA have found leasing a viable alternative to demolition as it minimizes federal maintenance costs, generates federal revenue that can be used for preservation purposes, and preserves these historic facilities. The most significant challenges facing NASA at MFA were the maintenance and abatement costs associated with Hangars 1, 2, and 3. After several years of consultation with NASA and the California State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), Planetary
Located in Sunnyvale, California, Moffett Federal Airfield (MFA) (originally Naval Air Station Sunnyvale) was one of two Naval Air Stations constructed in the 1930s to support U.S. Naval Airships (dirigibles). The most prominent of these structures were Hangars 1, 2, and 3. At 1,133 feet long, 308 feet wide, and 198 feet high, Hangar 1 is a focal point and became one of the most recognizable landmarks in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was built to house the USS Macon , a naval scouting ship. Hangars 2 and 3, also representing some of the largest unsupported wooden structures at the time, were built to aid the Navy’s coastal defense program. The structures make up part of the Shenandoah Plaza Historic District, which is listed on the National Register under Criterion A for its association with coastal defense and naval technology and Criterion C reflecting the distinctive type, period, and method of construction and high artistic value in the 1933 naval station plan and buildings. Hangar 1 is also designated as a Naval Historical
Historic photo of the completed Hangar 1 (Moffett Field Historical Society Museum)
The recladding of Hangar 1 began in mid-2022 and is
currently in progress. (Planetary Ventures)
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IN A SPIRIT OF STEWARDSHIP: A Report on Federal Historic Properties • 2024 | 83
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