BAG Focuses on Airport Growth, Airpark Access 

CO – One of the services offered by this Colorado-based aviation real estate firm is to help prospective buyers crack into residential airpark waiting lists. “Development has to be right for the airport,” cautioned Iver Retrum, partner and managing broker of Business Aviation Group. “Many people think that you can go in, develop it and that they will come,” Retrum said. “But that doesn’t necessarily work at every airport. You have to understand what the market is first. That seems simple, but a lot of times, it’s not.” 

Through more than two decades of industry experience, Retrum has seen the success of dozens of hangar projects and other on-airport developments predicated on proper examination of marketplace demand and other factors. 

His first foray into space was working as a national sales manager for Signature Flight Support. After five years with Signature, he transitioned to another well-known business aviation company, ARINCDirect. Following his departure in 2007, Retrum was entrusted with business development and marketing efforts for SunBorne’s 125-acre Centennial InterPort master-planned aviation development at Centennial Airport (KAPA) near Denver, Colorado. 

Eight years later, after managing roughly 250,000 square feet of commercial hangar space with that organization, Retrum co-founded Business Aviation Group. Not only does the Centennial, Colorado-based company provide feasibility and analysis services, but it also offers numerous other services to developers and FBOs across the country. “Business Aviation Group does a lot of different things. And again, my background is in aviation real estate, so I concentrate on valuation, transaction, and marketing. I have been a Colorado real estate broker for the last ten years, so that’s what my focus is. Then we also have a project management leg of the stool, which is a big portion of our business. With that, we are helping FBOs and developers go out, and project manage these developments. These range from big corporate hangars down to condo hangars or executive hangar-type developments,” Retrum began. 

“We are doing that across the country and have about 12 projects currently working on. Several of those are here in Colorado, but others are spread across the country. For some of those projects, we are invested on the development side, so we are actually in the capital stack ourselves. On other projects, we serve as a consultant and help those through the process, which is another key aspect of our business.” 

The list of projects that the company is presently undertaking within the Centennial State includes:  

AeroFNL at Northern Colorado Regional Airport (KFNL) 

• 77,000 sq. ft of new box hangars  
• 23 hangars: 2,600–5,100 sq. ft. 

GarCo Premier Hangars at Rifle/Garfield Airport (KRIL) 

• 56,400 sq. ft. of business and general aviation hangars 
• 15 hangars: 2,750–14,000 sq. ft. 

AeroHDN at Yampa Valley Regional Airport (KHDN) 

• 58,000 sq. ft. of executive and corporate hangars 

• 3,600–4,800 sq. ft. executive units 
• 28,400 sq. ft. corporate hangar 

These three projects add nearly 200,000 sq. ft. of additional hangar space within the state—at airports that are growing or are expected to in the near future. As a result of these and other projects undertaken throughout his tenure within the industry, Retrum has become adept at the art and science of airport property valuation. This is a topic that he frequently discusses with other members of the aviation community.