Skanska-led team finalizes $4B LaGuardia P3 contract — marking firm's 'largest project ever'

Dive Brief:

Skanska-led consortium LaGuardia Gateway Partners announced that it has finalized all agreements with the Port of New York and New Jersey for the finance, design, construction, operation and maintenance of New York City's $4 billion LaGuardia Airport Terminal B project, Skanska announced in a press release.
The public-private partnership (P3) structure being utilized for the project also includes associated infrastructure work, a central entrance hall and a lease agreement valid through 2050.
Skanska said this marks the "largest project ever" for the company, and its 70% share of the project, via its Skanska Infrastructure Development unit, is worth approximately $2.8 billion.

Dive Insight:

Skanska said it also has a 33% equity share, which it valued at approximately $70 million, in LaGuardia Gateway Partners. The company said construction would commence right away with a 2020 opening as its target and substantial completion scheduled for 2022. The LaGuardia Gateway Partners team also includes Vantage Airport Group, Meridiam, HOK and WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff.

In March, LaGuardia officials announced that estimated project costs had risen to $5.3 billion, up from $4.2 billion, to cover older development work not included in LaGuardia Gateway Partners' P3 contract costs. Before that reveal, LaGuardia officials had announced in February that cost increases of $600,000 had taken the final number from $3.6 billion to $4.2 billion. They said that increase was due to the fact that the central hall component had been left out of the original bid.

Skanska has extensive experience with P3 projects, which are becoming an increasingly popular option for major projects. In February, the company signed a $94 million contract with developer ARK Group to finish construction on the The Music Factory entertainment complex in Irving, TX, with which ARK has a P3 arrangement.

However, its most prominent P3, aside from the LaGuardia project, is probably its I-4 Mobility Partners contract for the $2.3 billion rehabilitation of a 21-mile stretch of Interstate 4 in Orlando, FL, the state’s most heavily used east-west corridor. The Skanska-led P3 group was recognized last year at the 2015 P3 awards as having the Best Transport Project for the I-4 project's "scale, complexity and overall performance."