Cirrus Aircraft announced plans to develop the Duluth\nInnovation Center at its headquarters following the recent acquisition of the\nformer Northwest Airlines Corp. facility, more recently occupied by AAR Corp.,\nlocated at the Duluth International Airport (KDLH) in Minnesota. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cirrus Aircraft will invest heavily to transform the\n189,000-square-foot building on 39 acres into a state-of-the-art Innovation\nCenter where engineers will develop the next generation of Cirrus aircraft. The\nDuluth Innovation Center will feature amenities and flexible workspaces that\nenhance the working environment as people return to the office. Inspired\ninterior features and design provide optimal collaborative workspace and break\nfrom the traditional office and lab environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoubling down with a massive facility such as this\nunderscores our relentless pursuit of continuous innovation that makes owning\nand operating a Cirrus safe, convenient and easy,\u201d said Zean Nielsen, Chief\nExecutive Officer of Cirrus Aircraft. \u201cWe are a company of big ideas such as\nputting a parachute on every Cirrus aircraft, designing and building a single\nengine Jet, introducing Safe Return Autoland, rolling out Cirrus IQ\nconnectivity and offering a 360-degree ecosystem around the customer. This\ninvestment solidifies Cirrus Aircraft\u2019s commitment to continuous innovation. We\nwant talent to think of Cirrus Aircraft, Duluth, and now the new Innovation\nCenter as a special place where the latest and greatest general aviation\ntechnologies come to life. The Innovation Center is designed to become the\nepicenter for personal aviation engineering and to attract top talent from\naround the world.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuluth and Cirrus Aircraft have a long and important\nhistory of being great to, and for, one another and the site of the Innovation\nCenter is no different,\u201d said Duluth Mayor Emily Larson. \u201cFor Cirrus Aircraft\nto expand their footprint in their hometown of Duluth means the world to us\nbecause it further elevates Duluth throughout the world of aviation. We are\nthrilled to support innovation while repurposing this asset. We are eager to\ndecrease public liability while exponentially growing the aviation economy, and\nwe are one hundred percent committed to Cirrus Aircraft\u2019s vision as being\ncentral to our own vision of economic development within the City of Duluth.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom the founding days of Cirrus Aircraft in the basement\nof a Wisconsin barn to the new Innovation Center, the company has maintained a\nrich culture of innovation that has changed personal aviation,\u201d said Pat\nWaddick, President of Innovation and Operations of Cirrus Aircraft. \u201cThis\ninvestment in a world-class facility brings together our engineering, flight\ntest, experimental, advanced design and development, and other key Product\nDevelopment areas. We are excited about how our investments in facilities,\npeople and programs will lead to changing the world \u2013 again!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On August 24, the Duluth Economic Development Authority\n(DEDA) approved the agreement authorizing the sale of the former Northwest\nAirlines facility with a 60-year ground lease. The agreement releases the\nDEDA\u2019s ownership of the facility and the ongoing financial burden as the\nbuilding has been without a tenant since May 2020, resulting in over 200 job\ncuts due to the pandemic. Moreover, the sale will save the city over $600,000\nannually in maintenance, operating, and tax expense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cirrus Aircraft aims to begin renovations by September\n2022. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cirrus Aircraft announced plans to develop the Duluth Innovation Center at its headquarters following the recent acquisition of the former Northwest Airlines Corp. facility, more recently occupied by AAR Corp., located at the Duluth International Airport (KDLH) in Minnesota. Cirrus Aircraft will invest heavily to transform the 189,000-square-foot building on 39 acres into a state-of-the-art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-minnesota"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/InnovationCenterEntrance-edit.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23516,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23514\/revisions\/23516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}