Dive Brief:
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The Kansas City (MO) Council last week approved its selection committee's choice of Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate to develop a $1 billion terminal at Kansas City International Airport (KCI), according to the Kansas City Business Journal. Edgemoor will finance, design and build a single terminal to replace the existing three currently in operation.
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The city and Edgemoor will now establish a memorandum of understanding, which will include a community benefits agreement, as well as hiring goals for locals, minorities and women. Although the new terminal will rely entirely on the airport and airlines for funding, Kansas City voters must still approve the project in November.
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Edgemoor ranked third behind separate consortia led by AECOM and local group Burns & McDonnell in an initial, informal committee vote. Documents recently released by the committee have raised questions about the awards process.
Dive Insight:
Large-scale airport terminal projects like KCI's can mean decades of revenues for the winning team if the work is delivered under a public-private partnership (P3). President Donald Trump's administration has also identified P3s as the way to tackle the modernization and repair of the country's aging infrastructure by shifting the responsibility of raising capital, as well as other project risks, to the private sector.
In August, the Denver City Council approved a $1.8 billion P3 to overhaul Denver International Airport's Jeppesen Terminal with Spain-based Ferrovial leading the team. The renovation itself is estimated at $650 million, but the Ferrovial group will also perform under a 34-year concession management contract. All in all, the company will get $1.2 billion in capital repayments and concession fees.
Another major airport P3 currently underway is the $4 billion Central Terminal B overhaul at New York City's LaGuardia Airport. The terminal was designed by the private consortium LaGuardia Gateway Partners (LGP), which is in progress with construction. LGP will also manage the new terminal when it is complete. Skanska, which is a member of LGP, has said it is its largest project ever. According to LGP, the total LaGuardia terminal deal is worth $5.1 billion, making it the biggest P3 in U.S. aviation.
