The originally proposed project that would add more than a dozen hangars at Hanscom Field. The Navy hangar is the darker brown square.
A state agency has granted a waiver to allow developers to renovate a disused Navy hangar at Hanscom Field in Bedford while they await a final decision on a plan to significantly increase hangar space and other work in a larger surrounding area for private and commercial aviation.
North Airfield Ventures LLC and Runway Realty Ventures LLC will lease space to Merlin, which has teamed up with MIT Lincoln Lab, the FAA, and the U.S. Air Force to test systems that would enable military and commercial aircraft to operate with just one person at the controls — and someday, perhaps, with no one at all, according to a May 30, 2024 Boston Globe article.
The original plan — which was first proposed in 2023 and engendered significant opposition from hundreds of residents, officials, scientists, and others — calls for adding almost 500,000 square feet of new hangar space on a 47-acre parcel on the north side of Hanscom Field. The state issued a ruling in June 2024 saying that the developers’ Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the project that “does not adequately and properly comply” with Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office regulations. The developers are expected to file an amended environmental impact report later this year.
The subset of land that will be renovated to accommodate Merlin and other tenants.
In June 2025, the developers filed a Notice of Project Change with a Phase One Waiver Request to allow them to renovate a smaller parcel including the Navy hangar while awaiting a decision on the rest of the property. The June request proposed a renovation of the hangar “consistent with its original R&D use dating back to the 1950s, including approximately 58,000 square feet of building space for office, research, and other similar uses, reuse of approximately 36,400 square feet of existing hangar space, creation of approximately 140 surface parking spaces, and reconfiguration of the access drive to Hartwell Road within an approximately 15.6-acre area in and outside the Navy Hangar Parcel.”
But five state lawmakers including Reps. Alice Peisch and Carmine Gentile, who represent Lincoln, wrote a letter to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office in June 2025 objecting to that proposal.
“While we don’t oppose the restoration and reuse of the historic Navy Hangar in principle, we urge [Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper] to consider this application in the context of the broader Hanscom development plans being pursued by this project’s proponents,” the legislators wrote. “Of particular note is the synergies of site work being undertaken in this project that would benefit the larger North Airfield Development project. This proposed work includes access and connectivity improvements, including modifying the existing curb cut and reconfiguring the existing site access drive from Hartwell Road, and expansion of the parking areas.”
On August 1, however, Tepper said the smaller hangar project does not require an Environmental Impact Report and granted a waiver that will allow the developers to proceed with the proposed Phase 1 work, including renovation of the Navy hangar, prior to conclusion of review for the full project.
ICE flights resume at Hanscom
In other Hanscom news, ICE has resumed flights in and out of the airfield for transporting arrestees as part of Patriot 2.0, its surge on alleged immigration violations in Massachusetts. WBUR reported on September 15 that flights were transporting people from the ICE intake center in Burlington to detention centers elsewhere in the country.
In response, Margaret Coppe, chair of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission, called on Massport in a September 17 letter to “obtain and send us flight information in a timely manner, from both ICE and the Hanscom FBOs [commercial businesses that service aircraft], including dates, times, and type of aircraft.”
The HFAC acts as a liaison between Massport and the five towns surrounding the airfield and serves as an advisory body to review decisions concerning land use, noise abatement, and transportation needs. “In order for the HFAC to properly carry out our charge, we must have information in advance of any and all ICE activity on Hanscom Field,” Coppe wrote.
Patriot 2.0 followed “Operation Patriot,” when federal authorities arrested nearly 1,500 people in Massachusetts in May, according to WBUR.
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