Published February 2005

New venue for tourism,
conferences
Future of Flight center will include
banquet facilities, meeting space

Photo courtesy of Snohomish County Airport In mid-January, Howard S. Wright Construction erected the first wall of the new Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour facility at Paine Field.

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

When Paine Field’s new $22 million Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour facility opens late this summer, it will offer not only a new aerospace venue for tourism but also a new regional facility for meetings and conferences.

“The center will focus on aviation exhibits, conducting Boeing tours and attracting people through the international branding we’ve given the center by putting the Boeing name on it,” said Bill Lewallen, Paine Field’s deputy director for property management and project manager on the aviation center.

“In picking the name, we wanted to focus on the future of airliner aviation, featuring things that people will someday see when they fly. We will still have enough history in the displays to help people see the significance of the changes that are coming,” Lewallen said, noting the center will include historic displays of the Boeing 747 and 727 outside of the facility.

“But, the facility also will be a great attraction for all types of conferences and meetings,” Lewallen said.

Much of the 63,000-square-foot, multipurpose building is taken up by the huge Plaza of Planes — a 102-by-268-foot-long display area — but it also will provide room for banquet facilities, serving up to 600 guests. Plus, there will be a 9,000-square-foot outdoor observation deck on top of the Boeing Tour center with a covered area for up to 350 people.

Conference rooms in the aviation center will provide space for 250 to meet, and the adjacent Hilton Garden Inn will have its own meeting area for another 250 people. The hotel’s kitchen staff will cater meals for meetings at both the aviation center and the hotel.

Construction is well along on the 10-acre site at the top of the hill on State Route 526, on the northwest corner of the air field, with the first tilt-up walls of the facility installed and foundation work beginning on the adjacent Hilton Garden Inn, due to open in late July.

The Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour facility is a public-private venture involving the Snohomish County Public Facilities District, Paine Field, the Boeing Co. and the Museum of Flight.

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