The Collingwood Regional Airport sale will not close this year.
Collingwood CAO Fareed Amin told CollingwoodToday.ca the transaction is scheduled to close in January 2019 “to allow the potential purchaser to complete the due diligence.”
The most recent closing date given by the town was the end of November. There was an in camera meeting of council on Nov. 26, but no decisions were announced publicly.
The town of Collingwood announced the sale of the Collingwood Regional Airport was finalized on Aug. 2.
The airport was sold in a bid process with Winterland Developments Ltd. being the highest-ranked proponent offering a price of $4.1 M. A news released distributed that day stated the original closing date for the sale was Sept. 25, 2018. Since then, the closing date has been pushed back three times to the end of October, then November, and now January 2019.
Collingwood Aviation Partners Ltd. (CAP) has filed a notice in court to sue the town and Winterland over a 2014 operating agreement between the town and CAP that granted Genesis Flight School (owned by CAP) access to the runways and rest of the regional airport.
According to David Gascoine, owner of the flight college and a partner in CAP, the agreement signed stated the owner (CAP) would have full access to the Collingwood Regional Airport’s runway systems as long as it’s an airport and regardless of a sale and change in ownership.
The town has informed Gascoine the agreement would no longer be in place under Winterland’s ownership. Gascoine said Winterland is looking for a new agreement that would allow them to cancel the flight school’s access to the runways with 60 days notice.
CAP is looking for a court ruling binding the town to that 2014 agreement.
Amin did not comment on questions relating to the lawsuit or CAP’s claims.
