The $543 million expansion of John Wayne Airport is one of a handful of big construction projects keeping an otherwise idled industry busy in Orange County.
The three-year project is adding a third passenger terminal, parking structure, central utility plant and improvements to the airport’s two existing terminals.
The project, which is nearing the halfway mark, is expected to create 6,670 jobs and generate about $1 billion in local economic impact by the time it finishes in late 2011.
“It’s definitely impacted us,” said Khatchig Tchapadarian, project director with the Irvine office of St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Cos., the general contractor on the third passenger terminal.
The airport expansion is one of three big construction projects under way amid a pronounced falloff in building that started in 2008 with the bust of the homebuilding and office bubbles.
The county’s largest construction project right now likely is Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente’s $500 million, 434,000-square-foot hospital and medical office buildings going up in Anaheim and set to finish in 2013.
Walt Disney Co.’s $1.1 billion expansion of Disney’s California Adventure theme park in Anaheim is likely to eclipse both John Wayne and Kaiser when the five-year project reaches its peak somewhere between now and its expected completion in 2013.
At John Wayne, steel beams have started going up for the ground floor of the third terminal, the largest part of the expansion. Three floors of an adjoining five-deck parking structure are up.
A $17 million power plant that kicked off the expansion in late 2008 is on track for completion at the end of this year, according to airport officials.
The winter’s rains caused some delays but not enough to put the project off schedule, airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said.
The expansion is the first major improvement to John Wayne since 1990, when the $63 million Thomas F. Riley Terminal opened.
The current expansion is designed to help the airport handle up to 10.8 million passengers a year by 2011, the maximum under an agreement with neighboring cities that runs through 2015.
The airport is well below the cap now, in the wake of the recession. Last year, John Wayne saw nearly 8.7 million passengers, down from its peak of 10 million travelers in 2007.
Most expect passenger numbers to rise as the economy strengthens. In March, passengers rose 3% from a year earlier to 736,104.
“The bit of relief we’re getting from the economy is probably good until our new terminal opens,” Wedge said.
The third terminal stands to boost the number of gates at the airport from 14 to 20, including two for international flights, which started this month with Air Canada in temporary space in the second terminal.
Part of the new terminal will house U.S. Customs and Border Protection, now in temporary space near Air Canada’s gates.
The terminal also will include stores and eateries, including a sit-down restaurant (see story, page 46).
Like others building now, the airport is getting a break on construction costs, which have come down dramatically in the past two years.
The terminal is projected to cost $101 million, down from early estimates of $200 million, according to Wedge.
“It was a significant savings,” she said.
Demolition crews tore down a 1,200-space parking structure on the south side of the airport in late 2008 to make way for the terminal and 2,000-space parking structure.
Construction of the 282,000-square-foot terminal broke ground in November along with the new parking garage.
The parking structure is expected to be done later this year with the terminal finishing next summer. It then has to undergo federal reviews and is set to open in late 2011.
The Newport Beach office of San Francisco-based Gensler designed the terminal to match the rest of the airport.
“It’s supposed to resemble an airport fuselage and be an extension of the existing terminal,” Wedge said.
McCarthy is building the project after winning over five other bidders. Colorado’s Arcadis US Inc. is serving as project manager.
The parking structure was designed by Los Angeles-based Walker Parking Consultants and is being built by the Irvine office of San Francisco-based Swinerton Inc. That part of the project is being managed by the Tustin office of San Diego-based Barnhart Inc.
The airport’s central utility plant is due at the end of the year. It’s set to allow the airport to generate its own electricity and chill water to provide air conditioning to the terminals.
Controversy?
Expanding John Wayne always is controversial.
Neighboring Newport Beach and Costa Mesa have signed off on the expansion and activist groups haven’t openly protested the project.
“They aren’t trying to stop this project,” Wedge said. “They just don’t want us to do any more after this.”
The next fight is likely to be over renewal of the airport’s operating agreement with neighboring cities by 2015.
In addition to capping passengers, the agreement limits hours of operation at the airport.
Last month, Newport Beach-based Legacy Aviation LLC halted plans for an executive jet hangar at the edge of the airport amid opposition from neighboring cities and activists.
The airport expansion is being funded by revenue, bonds and a passenger fee.
John Wayne started collecting a $4.50 per passenger fee in 2006 that’s set to fund about three-quarters of the expansion. The fee runs through 2022.
The airport is known for its short runway of less than a mile, which limits the availability of nonstop flights and requires commercial pilots to climb steeply to reduce noise as they pass over neighborhoods.
The runway also limits John Wayne’s international ambitions.
So far, Air Canada is doing one flight to Toronto in the hopes of landing travelers to Canada or those looking to transfer to European flights.
Airport officials hope to see other near international flights to Mexico, Central America and elsewhere in Canada.
“Any international service we do have is going to be somewhat limited,” Wedge said. “Heavier planes can’t get off the ground with such a short length of runway.”
The airport isn’t likely to get an international designation as part of its name until it has more global flights, according to Wedge.
