An official groundbreaking ceremony hasn’t happened yet, but the scope and price of the new KCI Airport terminal continues to go up.
During a business session for the city council on Thursday, Nov. 1, the price tag that was once $964 million in a 2015 estimation is now estimated to cost $1.9 billion. In June, the council learned the cost was increasing to $1.2 billion.
In addition to the cost going up, the completion date has been pushed back to January 2023.
“I think what you are seeing now is a reflection that costs go up, but the scope of the project got significantly larger,” second district councilman Dan Fowler, who represents Platte County, told FOX4.
The terminal is now 300,000 square feet larger, while more gates and large waiting areas have been added at the request of the airlines.
Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate (the Maryland-based company that was chosen by Kansas City to do the new terminal project) representatives told the council on Thursday the cost will go no higher than $1.459 billion, but the amount doesn’t include the financing costs, which is an estimated $475 million, which brings the total to just more than $1.9 billion.
The $1.459 billion will be paid by bonds guaranteed by the airlines.
“So I didn’t know this was coming,” second district at-large councilwoman Teresa Loar told KMBC. “I didn’t know where they were with the airlines. I mean, I feel hopeless. People at the grocery store ask, ‘What’s going on with the airport?’ And I have no idea.”
Geoffrey Stricker, Edgemoor managing director, noted that if the price exceeds $1.459 the company will cover the difference, saying the company is ‘motivated to hit that number.’
There is incentive for Edgemoor to finish as the company faces a $35,000 penalty per day for each day the construction runs over the projected finish date.
In an August airport committee meeting, the completion date of the new terminal was October 2022, but that timeline has now changed.
The council is set to approve the final airport cost at a meeting next month. A binding agreement between the airlines will be signed this month and public hearings will then be held before the council vote.