On Wednesday, September 11, 2019 at 10:46:33 AM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
It might be possible to turn a profit on Seminole Lake Gliderport, but other 'member owned commercial cooperatives' focus on operating a first-class recreational/educational resource and preserving it for future generations.. 'Profits' are reinvested in upgrades to equipment and facilities, and fund a reserve fund to carry on operations in 'lean years' (at a loss).

https://www.madriverglen.com/about-the-co-op/ comes to mind.

Non-profit Soaring clubs that own their airports have similar goals.

I agree that it is feasible to make a coop-owned operation work at Seminole because there are a lot of motivated glider pilots, with money, who need a place to fly. But my experience working with non-business type board members on a significantly sized not-for-profit ($22M current budget) is that they tend to wish things to be. News flash: wishing does not produce results; careful analysis and planning does. And add in a large dose of hard-nosed negotiation. On top of all of this, Seminole has some uniquely challenging legal situations, which demands EXTRA analysis and investigation than a normal business acquisition.

Tom