TV weatherman’s airport hangar apartment for sale

An aviator’s dream property has Kiwi airplane lovers getting ready to hit the throttle – with well-known former TV weatherman Jim Hickey selling his one-of-a-kind commercial hangar and adjoining three-bedroom apartment.

Sitting adjacent to the runway of New Plymouth Airport in Taranaki, the fly-from-home residence is one of only two buildings within the special purpose airport zone with a residential component to it – which gives an owner the potential to live on-site.

Strict council development rules and regulations mean any premises within the city’s airport precinct must be related to aviation activities. Hickey had the 400 square metre barn-shaped hangar apartment custom-built in 2008, with multiple activities inside the building specifically linked to the airfield.

The passionate aviator – whose father was a World War II fighter pilot – owned a Russian military trainer, and was also a co-founder of the aviation-themed Airspresso café within New Plymouth Airport’s main building. The hangar consequently allowed Hickey to not only accommodate his Yak 52 aircraft in the hangar, but also to store supplies and equipment for the nearby café operation.

Hickey has subsequently sold his Russian Yak trainer, and now leases out some of the 295-square metres of hangar floorspace to fellow aviation enthusiasts for storing their craft. He still had a business interest in the café and utilises some of the ample floorspace for Airspresso cafe’s stock and supply storage.

Jim Hickey was TVNZ’s weather forecaster for some 22 years, after hitting the airwaves in 1988. The charismatic broadcaster most notably combined his love of weather predictions and flying when he piloted Breakfast show host Tamati Coffee into Milford Sound following a severe snow dump in the Homer Tunnel, which shut down the connection to Queenstown.

In addition to his role as weathercaster, Hickey presented TVNZ programmes including Country Calendar, Jim's Car Show, A Flying Visit, How's the Weather Jim?, and The Real Middle Earth.

Now aged in his 70s and no longer flying and overseeing Airspresso’s four café locations nationwide, Hickey and his wife Sue are looking to move closer back to suburban New Plymouth – selling up their airport property as part of the process. New Plymouth’s central North Island geographic location strategically puts their airfield on the flight paths to Auckland, Wellington, and the South Island.

“It’s a pretty special place. Sue and I have been really lucky to live here,” said Jim, who has an encyclopedic-like knowledge of the many heroic achievements of New Zealand’s brave World War II fighter and bomber pilots.

“When all the commercial arrivals and departures at the airport have come and gone for the day, we’re the only residents in the neighbourhood, so it’s pretty peaceful to sit out on the deck or on a couple of canvas chairs in front of the hangar to watch the superb Tasman Sea sunsets. We’ve got beautiful views out across the main runways to the open sea, and Mt Taranaki on the southern horizon.

Sitting on some 650 square metres of flat leasehold land, the Hickey hangar home at 192 Airport Drive in Bell Block is now being marketed for sale by deadline through Bayleys New Plymouth, with offer submissions closing on December 11. Salesperson Kathy Gulliver said the north-facing building was the only three-bedroom premises situated within New Plymouth City Council’s special purpose airport zone, with the current lease running through to 2036, with a further 10-year right of renewal.

“For recreational aviators, this is truly a dream property… the likes of which rarely comes onto the market for sale. There are less than a handful of commercial airfield locations around New Zealand where you can live in a home right beside a commercial runway, but certainly none of this size and scale that we have heard of,” Gulliver said.

“The steel-framed hangar with concrete flooring has enough floor space to comfortably accommodate three or four single engine aircraft, so could not only house an owner’s private ‘plane, but also continue to be leased to other recreational aircraft owners flying in and out of New Plymouth Airport.

“Alternatively, the property could be purchased by the likes of businesses operating at New Plymouth Airport – such as an aircraft maintenance business, a car rental firm, or charter flight operator. With a large office space comprising bathroom and kitchenette amenities on the ground floor, the lovingly-maintained upper-level three-bedroom/one-bathroom apartment would work perfectly as totally separate staff or management on-site accommodation.”