A rendering of the planned consolidated security checkpoint. (Images courtesy RIC)
A pair of sizable construction projects at Richmond International Airport are continuing to head toward takeoff.
This week the Planning & Construction Committee of the Capital Region Airport Commission voted to recommend approving a contract for the design of a consolidated security checkpoint, a roughly $250 million project that would significantly change the passenger experience at RIC.
The committee also recommended approving a construction contract for a smaller project in what the airport is calling the “rental car connector,” a two-story structure that would run between the airport terminal and the rental car garage.
The recommendation for the security checkpoint design contract was for Gresham Smith, a Nashville, Tennessee-based firm with a local office that has worked on the checkpoint’s preliminary plans since they were unveiled a year ago.
The $13.4 million contract would be for architectural and engineering design of the checkpoint, as well as construction phasing and coordination, and regulatory approval coordination.
Gresham Smith’s proposal includes a handful of other local firms on the team, including architecture firms 3North and KEi Architects and engineering firms CMTA and Kimley-Horn. Rounding out the team are Arora Engineers out of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, and Virginia Beach-based structural engineer Speight Marshall Francis.
The Gresham Smith-led team was one of three to respond to the request for proposals that the airport issued in the summer for the checkpoint design.
The new checkpoint would combine the two existing but separate two-lane Transportation Security Administration checkpoints that feed into the airport’s A and B concourses into a single, larger area with up to 14 lanes. The project would also add a second level near the airport atrium for administrative offices and a grand hall, as well as space for more concessions and a lounge.
The airport is already lining up potential contractors to handle the build-out. Nagesh Tummala, RIC’s director of capital development, told the committee that an RFP to build the checkpoint received seven responses from “nationally recognized companies,” and that they’ve shortlisted a few teams with plans to bring a winning proposal to the airport commission in January.
The rental car connector would be built onto the airport terminal’s northern end. (Courtesy RIC)
The committee also recommended approving a $20.6 million contract for the construction of the rental car connector project. The bid was made by Norfolk-based Tazewell Contracting.
The project would be a two-story area on the north side of the airport that would connect the terminal to the rental car garage. It would provide an indoor walkway between the areas and provide space for the rental car companies’ counters, which currently are on the lower level of the airport terminal.
The project also would create an outdoor pocket park with seating and an area for a food truck to operate.
If the contract is approved, Tummala said Tazewell would have to begin work within about 90 days. The project is estimated to take around 16 months to complete.
The checkpoint contract is being financed through a combination of sources, including the Federal Aviation Administration and Virginia Department of Aviation. The rental car connector’s funding sources include the airport’s Customer Facility Charge, fees the airport charges rental car companies. Those fees were raised last year, along with parking rates at the airport, to help finance new airport construction.
Both the checkpoint design and connector construction contracts need approval from the airport commission, whose next meeting is Oct. 27.
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