TILLAMOOK WA – The only World War II blimp hangar still open to the public may face a bleak future.
 
Last month, the owner of a private collection of rare airplanes housed in the hangar announced it was moving out.
 
Now, as Port of Tillamook Bay commissioners grapple with the fate of the building touted as the largest wooden structure in the world, they are facing a repair bill of at least $15 million. It might as well be $1 trillion.
 
“We don’t have that kind of money and we’re never going to make that kind of money with the building,” said port commissioner Jim Young. “If somehow we found the money, the return on investment would be so low.”
 
On April 3, Erickson Aero Tanker, owner of the collection of vintage planes displayed in the hangar, announced in a press release that it would not renew its lease to operate the Tillamook Air Museum, but instead planned to move to a new facility in Madras.
 
“Our Madras operation offers both an opportunity to locate our vintage aircraft collection to a more conducive climate with a skilled workforce capable of maintaining these unique and valuable aircraft into the future,” said Mike Oliver, museum general manager, in the news release.
 
The lease is up in January 2016, but Oliver said he didn’t know if they would keep the planes at the hangar until then. “I haven’t come up with a moving plan yet,” he said. “So I don’t know.”
That leaves the Port of Tillamook Bay looking for a new tenant or other uses for the building. Some of the museum collection is on loan from the U.S. Navy and will stay in the hangar, said Michele Bradley, general manager of the Port. They may try attracting another collector or renting the space out as an events center or even leasing parts of for a new use.
 
But a new tenant in the building that measures 1,072 feet by 296 feet won’t make much of a difference for long if the port doesn’t find a way to make some repairs. The port commissioners thought they found help after FEMA came through with $44.5 million for the port after a 2007 storm did serious damage in the area.
 
They budgeted $4 million of that to put a coat of epoxy on the roof – 192-feet-tall at its pinnacle – hoping to seal up some of the holes.
 
Future of Tillamook blimp hangar in question as air museum prepares to move