Friday, August 28, 2015

Range Regional Airport (KHIB) terminal taking shape

HIBBING — One of the questions most often asked of Shaun Germolus these days is “when is the airport opening.”

Chuckling, he said the reply is always the same.

“The airport is open and has always been open,” he said. “The new terminal will be open in December.”

As executive director of the Chisholm-Hibbing Airport Authority (CHAA), it’s Germolus’s job to oversee the new terminal project and other improvements at the Range Regional Airport (RRA).

In recent years, improvements at RRA have included the relocation of the fuel farm and reconstruction of taxiway A. Current focus is construction of the new terminal, which will be followed by construction of the new terminal apron.

“The project has been going very well,” said Germolus of the terminal construction. “We are into week 47. The contract ends on Dec. 5, so I’d say we’re about two-thirds of the way there.”

Work got under way last September when a former office space was turned into the temporary terminal. The razing of the old terminal soon followed.

The new terminal started taking shape as winter approached, and as summer approached, the work transferred from the exterior of the structure to the interior.

“People were commenting how nothing was going on there for awhile, but that wasn’t the case,” said Germolus. “It’s just that the work was now being done on the inside.”

The project is on schedule, and currently under budget.

“We really haven’t run into any unexpected issues or delays, or had any cause for financial issues,” he added.

The new terminal is a $11.6 million investment. Combined with the other improvement projects, that means more than $19 million in improvement at RRA since 2013 and into 2016.

The new terminal was designed by Reynolds, Smith & Hills (RS&H) with architectural expertise from Architectural Resources Inc. of Hibbing. Construction manager-at-risk is Hibbing-based Max Gray Construction, which let 18 bid packages and oversees all subcontractors. All but two subcontractors are from the region, noted Germolus.

“That’s something we are really proud of,” he added. “We like being able to say that all of these dollars are going to support local laborers and companies. It’s nice to see it being invested in the region.”

The new terminal will be more than double the size of the former terminal — a jump from 8,900 square feet to more than 20,900 square feet. With more space, the facility will be able to better accommodate passengers and offer more amenities.

The floor space and design will be much more convenient, said Germolus. That will include restrooms and vending machines within the passenger holding room, which wasn’t the case before.

“We used to have to have people step out (of the holding room) and then have to have them come back through screening,” he said. “This will eliminate that inconvenience.”

The holding room will also be much larger than before — an increase from 35 seats to 100 seats. For comparison, the temporary terminal has roughly 70 seats.

Two of the biggest improvements will be the addition of a passenger boarding bridge and a return luggage carousel. That means passengers will no longer have to walk outside to get on the plane, and won’t have to rummage through bags out on the sidewalk.

“The No. 1 question we get is if we’re getting a passenger boarding bridge,” said Germolus. “Everyone seems to be intrigued by that. After walking across the ramp in snow and rain and ice for so many years, it will be a huge difference.”

The new structure is also anticipated to result in some increased efficiencies, despite its larger size. New boilers, in-slab heating and air handling an air conditioning units should prove more economical.
“We will be installing upgrades from the past, so we should be looking at some cost savings,” he said. “Although we will be larger, we’re optimistic that we will be very close to achieving efficiencies due to what we added.”

The interior design will be reflective of the Range region and Northern Minnesota.

“The design team has gone to great lengths to provide a very local feel utilizing local materials,” said Germolus.

That will include using stone from area mine pits, exposed steel columns to represent the mining industry, installing metallic tile of local colors, and terrazzo flooring of white to represent the snow and ice with a blue center to represent rivers and lakes, among other accents.

Free-form glass panels embedded with blades of grass will be hung near the screening area, and a large stone fireplace with an LED insert will be built. A few of the wildlife trophies — the moose and bear, for sure — found in the former terminal will also welcome airport users in the new terminal.

“We’ll also have a modern look with all of the reflective blue glass windows, which allows a lot of natural light inside,” said Germolus.

Watching the new terminal take shape has Germolus and CHAA directors excited about the growth of the airport and what it may mean for the future. He thanked airport visitors and passengers for their continued support during this construction period.

“I was apprehensive about whether people would continue to come out here and support us knowing that we’re working out of a temporary terminal, but they have and we’re very appreciative of that,” said Germolus. “We know it’s not the ideal set up, but it hasn’t seemed to have affected business.”

He noted that enplanements are up about 3 percent this year at this time as compared to last year.

“We are doing our best to accommodate, and it’s neat to see how they are coming out here and feeling like they are part of the process,” he added.

The other question Germolus often gets is whether RRA will be getting any flights above and beyond its current 12 round trips a week. He said that Sky West continues to serve the airport well, as does Sun County with its flights to Laughlin every so many weeks.

“The airline will continue to offer its flights, and we will continue to work with both the airline and with passengers,” he said.

Original article can be found here: http://www.grandrapidsmn.com

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