Nicole Nelson discovers more about the highly ambitious land development programmes of Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver and Auckland airports.

While Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver and Auckland "¿have geographic and topographic differences, all "¿three gateways share the commonality of having "¿valuable land resources that are in various phases of compelling commercialisation.

Indeed, the two US gateways are among the biggest in the world in terms of landmass - Denver's 53 square mile site is nearly twice the size of Manhattan - and arguably have two of the most innovative commercial land use programmes on the planet.

And with the respective support their local cities, municipalities and tribes, these three airports are doing their utmost to boost their non-aeronautical revenues that will help ensure their long-term sustainability.

Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) vice president for commercial development, John Terrell, said the airport has identified more than 6,000 acres of its 18,000 acres property for development through a series of long-term planning processes and procedures.

"We don't just colour a map and say this is where we want land "¿to be developed," laughs Terrell, noting that the airport conducts market studies using outside consultants to help DFW determine the best types of development in each location. "We not only look at physical features of the property, but we look at accessibility and visibility to the market."

As the airport is nine miles long and seven miles wide, DFW falls within various real estate markets.

"Some markets are a little hotter than others, and some have "¿higher potential for certain types of development, so we take a look at it parcel by parcel and we have actually developed the area into development districts that have different characteristics. With the market studies, that tells us how we can break that down, what the demand is for certain types of products in each location, and that gives us a general direction."

Terrell reveals that the airport has also explored a 500-foot width boundary area around the perimeter of the airport to learn about the current land use planning and zoning categories of the adjacent cities of Grapevine, Coppell, Irving, Euless and Fort Worth. He insists that communication is key, and has met with all five cities that border airport property within the past four months.

"We want our planning to be in concert with each city's vision so that we're not building something that would be in conflict," Terrell says. "We make a strong point of going to each city's planning department, city staff and their councils so that they have a good idea of what our plans are and we are getting feedback from them so we work in concert. We have a lot of close communications and we do work well together."

Thus far, Terrell says growth and development has been widespread. From 2001 to 2009, there has been a significant development in International Commerce Park, the nearly 400-acre park covering three of DFW's host cities: Irving, Coppell, and Grapevine.

Terrell says that the bulk of DFW's development has transacted in this area simply because it was pre-determined to be the focus of development efforts, and considerable sums were spent developing the site's infrastructure, utilities and streets.

Looking ahead, Terrell reveals that the airport has proposals to the far reaches of each side of the airport. Growth potential to the north exists in Grapevine, where a 1,100-acre tract lends itself to some nice high-end development with pre-existing neighbours to include the Gaylord Texan Resort and Conference Center, the Great Wolf Lodge, "¿Bass Pro Shops, a shopping mall, and other hospitality.

On the east side, development of the 14-mile Orange Line of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) regional rail service is scheduled to enter airport property, and DFW is looking for a transport oriented mixed-use development rail station on the airport. On the south side, the City of Irving is interested in partnering with DFW on a 600-acre tract called Passport Park fronting Highway 183.

And while DFW is nearly out of land on the west side's properties with airside access - the West Air Cargo Complex - Terrell surmises "¿that the future of logistics and cargo development will continue on "¿the east side.

"We have a fairly small staff for the amount of possibilities that we have," he comments, noting DFW has a staff of 15, of which only half are management level and above. "While we have a lot of experience in land planning, we do lean on outside consulting."

Meanwhile in Denver, the airport's acting manager for revenue and business development, John Ackerman, reveals that the gateway recently completed a Request for Proposal process to retain a firm specialising in long-term commercial development.

And he believes that as the relatively new kid on the block - Denver International Airport opened in 1995 - the gateway "¿can learn a lot from the land commercialisation efforts of DFW "¿and other 'airport cities' such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam Schiphol "¿and Incheon.

"We are in the very early stages of developing our plans," "¿admits Ackerman. "We have 53 square miles of land here, most "¿of which is for aeronautical use, but that still leaves quite a bit of "¿land on our perimeter, so we are focused on putting plans in place "¿that will give non-aviation uses on our side of the fence but also "¿with our neighbours."

Ackerman says that DIA is working closely with neighbouring municipalities and significant landowners to enable the airport "¿to grow and continue to be the economic engine that fuels the "¿region while giving private landowners and municipalities "¿shared benefits.

"The area available for development is still being assessed, but "¿it is in the thousands of acres," Ackerman says, noting the property measures at slightly over 34,000 acres. "Some of that property is located in the north east corner of the airport and is furthest away "¿from our current development. There is quite a bit of land out there "¿that may have a 30-year time horizon, and we have other land we believe is developable now."

Unlike DFW and Denver, Auckland International Airport is situated in a coastal environment on a peninsula, so most neighbours are separated from the airport by the ocean and coastal inlets.

Dubbed the 'city of sails', one might surmise that land available for development would be on the smaller end of the scale. However, Auckland's general manager of property, Peter Alexander, reveals that the airport potentially has around 400 hectares of land available for commercial development, with planning in progress for 260 hectares.

"This is a significant amount of land for New Zealand, a small country with a small economy," says Alexander.

Alexander mentions that the airport currently has "¿NZ$115 million of development projects underway including a 263-room, four-star Novotel hotel directly adjacent to the international terminal. It is first hotel to be constructed on the airport and will open in May 2011.

It will be joined by two-star, 125-room Formule1 hotel in time for the start of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in September/October 2011. An Accor brand common in Europe and Australia, this will be the first Formule1 property in New Zealand.

The airport will be the ultimate owner of the Formule1 "¿property, while the Novotel Auckland Airport is a joint venture "¿with investors that include Accor and a local tribal investment "¿group called Tainui Holdings.

"We have an indigenous people here, the Amori, and our local tribe is Tainui," Alexander says. "The tribe seeks to make investments in Tainui-owned shops and hotels and they are the majority investor in the Novotel."

In addition to its hotel holdings, Auckland is developing two "¿office buildings, a training centre and three industrial facilities in pre-planned precincts.  Alexander said the flurry of development activity has taken place as a result of a paradigm change in strategy.

"Prior to this, there had been a period of three years where the airport had been without development," he says. "I started in October 2008, and our CEO started in August 2008. We reviewed the strategy with the Board and decided we wanted to kick-start our development programme. So this has been a very deliberate action to get very active with the market and to attract tenants here and to become a significant developer.

"We are quite pleased. It is always good to make a plan, but it is better when it works."

By Nicole Nelson