Contractors are heading into the final stretch after having taken the first step of Tampa International Airport’s planned, nearly 15-year master plan, completing nearly $1 billion worth of projects that will enable the airport to eventually nearly double capacity. That first step, however, is a doozy.
Programmed at $971 million, the first phase of TIA’s master-planned reconstruction, approved in 2013, adds a $315-million, 2.5-million-sq-ft consolidated rental car center (or CONRAC) as an outpost to the international airport, which still mostly sits upon its original 1971 footprint. A $415-million, 1.4-mile automated people system (APM) will connect the massive CONRAC with an updated main terminal, which is undergoing a $142-million expansion of its transfer level and redevelopment of concessions.