Museum land secured for new Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum

In late December, the folks with the Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum, now located on Travis Air Force Base, closed escrow on 11.5 acres near Nut Tree Airport, close to where the old Solano Steelheads once played. Officials split the $1.6 million cost with Solano Community College, which aims to build a top-notch aeronautics education facility on the site and graduate students well-versed in aviation technology.

 

It’s a great thing, an action that only encourages further movement, emphasized Dave Fleming, a former Vacaville mayor who sits on the board of the Doolittle Center Education Foundation.

 

More acreage is needed, he said Wednesday, and there’s still a ways to go before the museum center can be built.

 

First off, the Doolittle Center needs to acquire about 10 more acres, now owned by the city, to fully realize plans.

 

The project calls for the museum, which in itself could range from $12 million for a small facility to $60 million-plus for a high-tech wonder with “lots of moving parts,” as Fleming put it.

 

There would also be a hotel, a multiuse center, an air park and a collegiate-level education and restoration center.

 

“There’s lots of things that are iffy in terms of exact plans,” Fleming advised, adding that there’s much that still needs to be mapped out, like funding.

 

Doolittle officials have secured a letter of intent from the city and are now negotiating a 50-year lease, Fleming said.

 

The letter, according to city spokesman Mark Mazzaferro, gives Doolittle officials the exclusive right to negotiate with the city regarding the long-term lease of the desired property, located between the Nut Tree Airport and the Nut Tree shopping facility. The original letter of intent was secured last March, followed by an extension last September.

 

A second extension was granted Dec. 23, allowing officials until June 30 to continue negotiations.