The fate of the unfinished administration building at Grand Junction Regional Airport could be written by an airport consultant charged with devising a plan for the airport terminal.
The Airport Authority has hired a consulting firm, Mead & Hunt, to draw up a terminal-area plan, which is to be complete by mid-2016.
The airport has to find a way to deal with the terminal building, which was completed in 1982 but is now showing its age.
The current airport budget included no capital spending on the existing terminal because officials had concluded that they would soon have no more use for it, based on a terminal-area plan that was completed in 2011 and now has to be reconsidered, said airport Executive Director David Fiore.
One major feature of the plan was the replacement of the existing terminal with new development.
Now, it’s clear that “we’re not moving out of that terminal building anytime soon,” said Fiore, who stepped into his job soon after an FBI investigation into the airport left all the airport’s plans in doubt, not least of them the fate of the still-unfinished administration building.
Now, said Fiore, “It’s time to hit the reset button” on the plans.
The airport board suspended work on what was to have been a $6.5 million administration building about halfway through the job.
The building is now entering its second winter exposed to the elements.
Construction had begun with the promise that the Federal Aviation Administration would foot much of the $6.3 million bill for the building because it was to house a fire station and baggage handling. Both uses were deemed to be related to aviation and thus eligible for FAA grants.
No federal money was used on the project, however, and now the airport has no immediate plan for the building that might attract federal reimbursement.
The city of Grand Junction had proposed to spend as much as $1.5 million to complete the building’s exterior, on the hope that the building could be used to accommodate foreign trade for manufacturing. A study on the feasibility of a foreign trade zone remains in the works.
The building, meanwhile, remains the focal point of a lawsuit by Shaw Construction LLC, who is seeking $320,000 for work on the building for which it hasn’t been paid.
The airport also has looked at the possibility of both completing the administration building and tearing it down.
A study by the Architectural Alliance Group in Denver earlier this year said the building could have been completed for $3.5 million, or demolished at a cost of $827,000. Salvaging could reduce that cost by about $165,000, reducing the final cost to about $662,000, the study said.
Mead & Hunt’s terminal-area study, which will cost about $169,000, provides an opportunity to step back and evaluate the airport’s course, Fiore said.
“I’m excited. I think the community has a great opportunity here. We really do have a chance to regroup, not just as an airport, but as a community.”
Original article can be found here: http://www.gjsentinel.com
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