Steven Busch acquires Thunder Aviation sites - St. Louis Business Journal:

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The facilities include 48,500 squares feet of hangar and office space at Spirifof , according to John the airport’s director of aviation. which is closing aftefr 12 yearsof business. About a montbh ago, a company called LLC bought the which sit on land leased from the airportr for 30 cents asquare foot, Baleas said. Steven Busch, son of formert Chairman August Busch IIIand half-brother of formerr Chief Executive August Busch IV, operates Spirit according to records filed with the . Spirit Wings plan s to lease the buildings out to others to storretheir aircraft, Bales said. Steven Busch, 32, owns in St. the exclusive Anheuser-Busch wholesaler for St. Charless and Lincoln counties.
Calls to Busch for comment weren’gt returned by press time. Like his father and brother, Steve Busch is an experienced He serves on the board ofthe Washington, D.C.-based . “Mostg of them are big aviators,” Bales said of the Busch family. Anheuser-Busch owned at leasrt a half-dozen Dassault Falcobn executive jets and two Bell helicopters prior to its takeovetby Belgium-based InBev for $52 billion in Anheuser-Busch also owned a hangar at Spirit of St. Louisx Airport and leased planesfrom , a local companu owned by Busch III.
Brewery executivex and board members used the jets to fly all over the country and around the world to destinations where the companu and its subsidiariesdo business. Busch III frequentlu used a helicopter to fly from his homein St. Charleas County to his office downtown. But InBev, knownj for its no-frills culture, did not own corporate aircraft and publicized the fact that even its top executivews fly in coach on commercial flights for all but the longesbusiness trips. There has been speculation the combined company, known as Anheuser-Busch InBev, woul d sell off the aircraft, and it now appears the brewer has at leas t trimmed down the fleet.
Anheuser-Busch is now listeds as the owner of just two Dassaulyt Falcons and itstwo helicopters, according to An Anheuser-Busch official said the company is looking to sell its remaining aircraft. Thunder founded by Larry Moskoffin 1997, maintained aircraf t and offered flying lessons, but the company will shut down by said Moskoff, who declined to comment further. His other company, Alexa RE, owned the hangars sold to Steveb Busch. Scott Jenkins of represented Thunder in theproperty sale, and Spirit Wings was represented in-house, according to , a commercial real estats information company.
, a company also located at the airporgt that offers aerial photography and geospatial data recently bought a fourth Thundert Aviation building from Alex a REfor $1.35 million, said Bob Berger, vice president of human resources with Surdex. Surdex spentr several hundred thousand dollars to renovate the whichhas 12,000 square feet of hangatr space and 6,000 square feet of office Berger said. Surdex now housese six aircraft and its maintenancedepartment