AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. — The consortium behind the Airway Heights Aerospace Tech Hub is preparing to reapply for federal funding after nearly $50 million was pulled last week.
“There’s still tons of momentum coming,” said Mark Norton, Executive Director of the Northwest I-90 Manufacturing Alliance.
The Trump administration has restarted the application process for tech hub funding, meaning local partners must compete with all other applicants again.
“We’ll review, we’ll be looking for input about what was missing or what they didn’t like, but I think the majority of work from the first round will still be in place,” Norton said.
He emphasized that major companies remain interested in the project. “There’s significant industry and investment in this tech hub. You have primes like McDonell Douglas, Boeing. They’re all wanting to be part of this.”
Partners couldn’t complete much work on the testing and manufacturing center building before funding was pulled. However, much of the infrastructure is already in place to launch the tech hub if it receives funding again.
The tech hub was originally designed to focus on composites, but could benefit companies working with other materials as well.
Norton believes the project could boost economic development in Spokane.
“We’ll have a lot of companies coming here to work with the tech hub and as they see Spokane, they’ll see what we have to offer and they’ll see the supply chain that we have,” he said. “The hope is that they’ll become aware and they’ll start taking a stronger look at our area.”
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