Major Gift to RMC Part of Exchange With Edwards Jet Center
BILLINGS – It was a good deal and a good deal more when Edwards Jet Center and Rocky Mountain College completed a property exchange recently.
The deal will result in Rocky Mountain College owning the airport hangar which it currently leases and where its flight operations are headquartered, and Edwards Law Office securing space to build a new office building, ending its leasing of space on Lewis Avenue.
The deal actually nets RMC a gift from the Edwards family of $650,000, according to RMC President Michael Mace.
“We are very excited about this exchange because we think the RMC aviation program is a tremendous boost to our entire region of northern Wyoming, western Dakotas and all of Montana, and we’re very proud to help with that,” Cliff Edwards said.
The property exchanged is a hangar RMC has been leasing from Edwards Jet at the Billings Airport for a property on Poly Drive, owned by RMC. The building on the corner of Poly and 17th Street, formerly used for a restaurant, was built in 1954. It has been bulldozed to make way for the new Edwards Law offices, currently located on Lewis Avenue.
“When we finalized the exchange of property, it actually created a gift of $650,000 to Rocky Mountain College,” said Mace. “The $650,000 is the difference between the values of the properties. This was a very generous gift from the Edwards family.
Edwards, along with his sons and law partners, John and Chris Edwards, are building a 10,000-square-foot office building on the former RMC property that they hope to occupy by spring 2012.
Edwards said his family has always had a high regard for the college because of close contact with students who have worked at Edwards Jet.
“For more than 11 years, we’ve appreciated the level of professionalism of the Rocky students who have worked for us. They’ve been integral to our work force and they’re simply excellent,” Edwards said. “We’re proud and happy to do something to help that program continue to grow.”
Mace said owning the hangar, which serves as the center for the aviation program’s flight operations, adds prestige and permanence to the program.
“Our mission with the aviation program is to educated and train individuals to be professionals and leaders in the industry, and locating a main portion of the program in a hangar that we own at the airport certainly helps with that,” he said.
Cliff Edwards, a third generation Montanan, whose family settled in the Great Judith Basin in the late1890s, began his law practice in Billings in 1974. In 2001 he bought Lynch Flying Service; in 2002 he added the FBO assets of Corporate Air; and in 2011 he acquired Corporate Jet. Edwards Jet Center is a full-service FBO with operations at Logan International Airport.
Rocky Mountain College is the oldest institution of higher education in Montana, established in 1878. The college, located on 60-acres, offers a full liberal arts education with professional programs in aviation, and equestrian studies, as well as master degrees in physician assistant studies, accountancy, and educational leadership.
