First New Gates Open for LaGuardia Airport’s $8 Billion Redevelopment

LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal BLaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B Courtesy of Skanska USA

Earlier this month, the Eastern Concourse in LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B opened its first new gates to the public. The revamp is part one of an $8 billion, 2.7 million square foot redevelopment at one of the nation’s busiest airports, which also includes a rebuild of Terminal C. In undertaking this multi-phase construction plan, LGA had to remain fully operational to their 30-million passengers a year. Old facilities were demolished only as new facilities were completed, ensuring the airport never loses capacity. When complete, LGA will be the first new airport built in the country in more than 25 years.

LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B

LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B Courtesy of Skanska USA

Travelers can now experience 11 new gates in the 250,000 square-foot Terminal B concourse, with modern customer amenities, state-of-the-art architecture, and more spacious gate areas. Design features for the Eastern Concourse include 55-foot high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, an indoor park with benches and live greenery, charging stations throughout gate seating areas, a children’s play area, family-friendly restrooms, and a private nursing room. The Terminal B overhaul alone has a hefty price tag of $4 billion, and is replacing the obsolete terminal that opened more than 50 years ago. The terminal will have a total of 35 gates (seven more gates are opening in early 2019), dual pedestrian bridges over active plane taxi lanes, and views of the Manhattan skyline with the help of a connecting main departures and arrivals hall that will open in 2020 with the two island concourses.

LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B

LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B Courtesy of Skanska USA

For Skanska, the Swedish developer responsible for the updated facilities, the LGA redevelopment project is the largest public-private-partnership in U.S. aviation history and one of their most complicated undertakings. In addition to being a LaGuardia Gateway Partners equity partner, Skanska is the leading partner in the Skanska-Walsh Joint Venture responsible for the $4 billion design and construction of Terminal B.

Skanska completed new construction of the seven-story Terminal B parking garage in February 2018. It has 3,100 parking spaces, including more than 2,400 for personal vehicles, as well as a dedicated level for Uber, Lyft and other car services, providing 50 clearly marked loading areas for passengers to meet their drivers. In July, the developer opened a new flyover roadway to LaGuardia Airport from the Grand Central Parkway’s Eastbound Exit 7 in Queens, the primary roadway or overpass for vehicles accessing the airport. It’s the first of 18 new bridges Skanska is constructing to improve traffic flow at the airport. By mid-2021, 15 existing old or obsolete bridges will be demolished.

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8 Comments on "First New Gates Open for LaGuardia Airport’s $8 Billion Redevelopment"

  1. Joseph Lengeling. AIA | December 9, 2018 at 10:15 am | Reply

    Disappointing architecture. Nothing inspired here. Perhaps why we see no credits.

  2. These (super lo-res) photos are the NEW terminal areas? They look decidedly old and that shopping mall walkway is hideously dated. Fingers crossed that the other new terminals aim higher.

  3. How do you figure it’s the first new airport in 25 years when it’s replacing terminal buildings. Detroit (DTW) got new terminals in 2002 and 2008 and closed all the old terminal buildings. Sounds like the same thing as what you are talking about. Typical New York is the center of the world attitude.

  4. Have y’all ever heard of clients?

  5. Yeah there will have been multiple new major (and some even larger) airports completed in the 25 years before this opens… Detroit, Austin, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, and many smaller cities all have or will have 21st century airports well before NYC. Why is this one of the key advertising points for this project?

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