NY–NJ Port Authority green lights $4B Delta LaGuardia terminal

Dive Brief:

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Delta Air Lines have reached a deal on the $4 billion, 37-gate redevelopment of its terminal at LaGuardia Airport, in Queens, NY, according to the New York Daily News.
The Port Authority will pay as much as $600 million toward construction, and Delta, in addition to signing a 33-year lease, will pay the balance of $3.4 billion plus cost overruns, according to Business Insider. New work will include a redesigned terminal, new related infrastructure, an electrical substation, more parking and revamped taxi and for-hire vehicle zones.
Goldman Sachs was originally set to be a $300 million equity partner with Delta on the terminal deal, as well as provide financing, but that fell through for unnamed reasons. Construction is scheduled to start later this summer and wrap up in 2026.

Dive Insight:

The new Delta terminal alone costs roughly as much as the central terminal replacement already underway at LaGuardia. The public-private partnership between the Port Authority and LaGuardia Gateway Partners, which includes Skanska USA, Vantage Airport Group, Meridiam, HOK and Walsh Group, was able to relieve the Authority of some of the pressure of financing, design, construction, operations and maintenance of the new facility, which was built in 1964.

The New York City metro area is seeing major renovations, either underway or in the planning stages, at its three major airports. Last month, crews broke ground on a $2.4 billion terminal renovation at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, NJ, to accommodate more passengers. That project is expected to create more than 10,000 jobs and result in a $4 billion economic boon for the area.

The biggest of them all, however, is the proposed $10 billion overhaul of John F. Kennedy Airport, also in Queens. So far, the laundry list of work, which officials have hinted could be delivered as a P3, includes connecting the existing terminals, overhauling the airport's road infrastructure to improve traffic flow, expanding access to the AirTrain rail system and centralizing airport parking.

The project is still in its early stages. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced that the Port Authority has started soliciting master-plan proposals. Eligible companies will provide pre-construction engineering and design services.