Airport board chooses site for new terminal
If Des Moines International Airport gets a new terminal, it will be built just behind, or northwest of, the current one, the Airport Authority Board decided this morning.
The board also approved a $1.9 million contract — nearly twice the early estimates — for a one-year study by HNTB Corp. that will look in more detail at specific square footages for various functions in the terminal. Kevin Foley, the airport’s executive director and general manager, said some such contracts cost as much as $6 million, depending on the detail requested. Wichita, Kan., spent more than $2 million.
That work will be followed by an environmental impact study and architectural design work.
HNTB Iowa Inc.’s recently released analysis of the grounds found that it would cost $491 million to build a new terminal, a parking garage addition and related projects at the eastern site near the existing complex. The new terminal would account for $132 million of that.
Building on the south end of the airport grounds would have cost $618 million, largely because of taxiway needs.
Several board members said the authority still could stop the project if the economic conditions warranted. There also are decisions to be made on design and privatization that could trim costs.
“We are still at the stage where we can halt it, depending on how the economy does,” said board member Liz Ward. “This is not yet set in stone.”
Still, there is a case for moving forward, she added.
“So many people say we don’t need a terminal, we’re fine,” Ward said. “Honestly, we are making it work but at peak times we are busting at the seams. When we will use it will be 10 years down the road” when passenger counts are projected to be much higher.
Foley said the project is running months behind, but the FAA has approved an earlier start to the environmental analysis, which will help. “We can’t design (the terminal) until 2020 anyway because of other capital improvement needs,” including work on the airport’s runways, he added.
The project has been complicated by federal military officials’ refusal to release some of the Iowa Air National Guard’s leased property on the north edge of the airport for the construction of hangars and other airport facilities. The airport has asked for some of the land back because the Guard does not have fighter jets at the location anymore. Federal officials have discussed moving helicopters in from Boone. A meeting to discuss the long-deadlocked negotiations after a recent change in federal is scheduled in Washington, D.C., Oct. 31. Foley and board Chairman Ed Hansell plan to attend.
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