Local Banks Pool Resources to Support AAR

Done. Finito.  No more.

That would've been the fate of the massive AAR project if local banks hadn't stepped up to the plate.  Just ask the executive director at Rockford's airport Mike Dunn.
  
This eleventh hour deal came through but may end up costing the state more money in the long run.  

After three years of negotiating the AAR deal, Mike Dunn thought it was a done deal.

"The state budget crisis occurred and it was like starting all over again," said Dunn.

Dunn admits the back and forth between the governor's office got contentious.

"Every time they threw an excuse at us for why things weren't moving along, we had to prove them wrong," said Dunn.  "And we did.  I get it.  Look, I'm sympathetic to what the state is going through.  They have no money."

The war of words is over, according to Dunn.  The paperwork confusion with the state financing application is also taken care of he said.
But the idea of sitting and waiting until lawmakers pass a budget wasn't a reality to him.

"We'd be out of money for construction at this point," said Dunn.

Workers won't have to stop.  Dunn said the airport approached Alpine Bank to come up with a line of credit to cover the state's $16.5 million.  Alpine started reaching out to others, and then all of a sudden competitors became partners.  Now the money is there, $17 million dollars in fact.

"I can't say it enough without Alpine's leadership and the other banks involved this deal would be dead," said Dunn.

The airport will have to pay interest on the loan, but it might come out of the state's pocket.

"We believe that we're going to be reimbursed for that as well," said Dunn.

This investment now makes it more probable than not that come June, AAR will get the keys to its new jet repair facility.

For Dunn, this has kind of become his miracle on Airport Drive.  Going from a nightmare funding scenario, to waking up Tuesday with the support of five banks ready to lend more than just a hand.

"I gotta tell you that if you would've told me four years ago that we'd have those big hangars being built out there and an employer like AAR coming in, I'm not sure I would've believed you.  So it has been a rather miraculous ride," said Dunn.

Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. at the airport, the five banks: Alpine, Rockford Bank & Trust, Blackhawk, Byron and Northwest will join Dunn and the rest of the airport staff for the official announcement about the loan.