Breaks Ground On New Facility At X26

LoPresti Aviation and Florida's Sebastian Municipal Airport (X26) broke ground on a new $1.4 million hangar on July 19. This marked the beginning of a 15-year lease agreement.

The new hangar will house the LoPresti Fury and SpeedMerchants divisions. The company plans to use the facility to build the three prototype Furys required for FAA certification. Once certified, then full-scale manufacturing will begin at a facility in Belen, NM.

LoPresti has an established reputation as a leading provider of aviation performance solutions. There are six divisions within the company: Aerodrome, Fleet Ops, Engineering, Fury, SkyStruck and SpeedMerchants.

Curt LoPresti, CEO, attributes their success to a relentless dedication to efficiency. "It's the principle on which the company was founded almost 20 years ago. In these energy challenged times, our skills have come into high demand," he said. "The Fury, in particular, was designed to be the perfect embodiment of those skills. In automotive terms, it sips fuel like a Prius but has the performance of a Ferrari. It's the perfect vehicle for our times."

Al Minner, city manager and planner, added "This is great news for Sebastian and we are gratified to assist the city and LoPresti in combining talent in engineering, construction, maintenance and manufacturing."

The LoPresti team expects to move into part of the airport administration building early in 2009 and the hangar facility soon after. The remaining divisions will continue operation in Vero Beach, FL. 

FMI: www.speedmods.com