For months now, customers have been asking Adrian’s at the Airport restaurant owner Demetre Exarhopoulos the same question.
“When are we going to move?” Exarhopoulos related to the Langley Advance Times.
Originally, the plan was to have the restaurant relocated into new premises in the new Langley Airport terminal building last October, but a series of construction setbacks got in the way.
Builder Ron Madsen cited a number of unexpected developments , including the imposition by the U.S. of tariffs on steel that held up deliveries, and waits for permits from Langley Township.
Madsen’s RDM Enterprises Group is building the new facility, and an RDM division, Pacific Aircraft Services, owns the building and will lease it out.
Exarhopoulos estimated the restaurant portion of the building was about a year behind schedule.
But it is, finally, nearing completion, with Exarhopoulos now at the point of picking out colours for the walls and carpets.
“It’s very, very much closer,” he enthused.
“We’re starting to see a little bit of light.’
They hope to make the move by the end of March.
Very little from the old restaurant will be relocated.
“Only a few small things. It’s all new.”
Adrian’s will be operating in much larger premises, almost double the size of the current building, an aging two-storey wood former flight school that will be torn down once the move is complete.
Adrian’s, the new version, will seat 130 on the first level, 150 on the other, with an outdoor patio offering a that can accommodate 80 to 100.
It is part of a $10 million 55,000 sq-ft three-storey combination building, with larger administration offices, that will house a new airport control tower rising another two storeys above it.
It will give fly-in visitors an indoor place to stay, unlike now, when people arriving at the airport after the office and the restaurant are closed have to wait outdoors for a cab to come pick them up.
It will also have a bigger flight planning centre for air crews.
The aircraft control tower move depends on when NAV Canada, the federal non-profit corporation that runs all air traffic control in Canada, has signed off on the technological part of the move.
READ ALSO: New Langley airport building nears completion
READ ALSO: New terminal, tower building coming to Langley airport
Originally built by the federal Department of Transport in 1938, the Langley airport was controlled by the Department of National Defence and enhanced for the Royal Canadian Air Force for use as a relief field in the early 1940s.
After the Second World War, the Department of Transport resumed ownership and leased the airport to the Township of Langley. In 1954, the facility was licensed to operate as a municipal airport and in 1967 it was purchased by the Township for $24,300.
That turned out to be an excellent investment.
Welcoming around 100,000 rotary and fixed-wing traffic movements per year, YNJ is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country. The airport is home to dozens of aviation businesses, providing everything from chartered helicopter and fixed-wing flights to aerospace innovation, parts manufacturing, and maintenance.
dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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