NEW YORK CITY—The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's Board of Commissioners has selected a consortium entitled LaGuardia Gateway Partners that includes the likes of Skanska, Vantage Airport Group and Parsons Brinckerhoff to develop a $3.6-billion world-class terminal facility to serve approximately 50% of the passenger volume at LaGuardia.

The project is the first phase of a planned overall pubic-private partnership to redevelop the airport in Queens, NY. The unanimous selection of LaGuardia Gateway Partners by the Port Authority Board of Commissioners on Thursday was the culmination of a multi-year procurement process undertaken by the Port Authority. A comprehensive master plan for LaGuardia Airport will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

The first phase of redevelopment of LaGuardia includes demolishing the Central Terminal Building and creating a new world-class facility with a new central entry portal to the airport and unifying previously unconnected terminals.

LaGuardia Gateway Partners is comprised of Vantage Airport Group, Skanska and Meridiam for development and equity investment; Skanska and Walsh Construction as the construction joint venture; HOK and Parsons Brinckerhoff as the design joint venture; and Vantage Airport Group for management of the operations. LaGuardia Gateway Partners' members have worked on more than 350 aviation and transportation projects globally and domestically, including international airports in Chile, The Bahamas, New York (John F. Kennedy), Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, the Port Authority states.

The redeveloped LaGuardia will be designed to seamlessly integrate with future amenities recommended by the Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Advisory Panel such as premier retail and dining space; a hotel; a conference and business center and other modern features that will generate revenue for the Port Authority. The amenities also will include transportation features such as an AirTrain, ferry service and a people mover to help passengers traverse the entire airport.

Construction of the project will be funded by a public-private partnership, with the private sector contributing more than $2 billion and the Port Authority contributing more than $1 billion to construct the airport improvements and supporting infrastructure. LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the private development team, will be responsible for designing, constructing, operating and maintaining the new terminal.

The agreements for the new world-class terminal facility and the new central entry portal to the airport will be subject to multiple future Board approvals consistent with the Port Authority's capital plan.

"With today's Board action, the Port Authority continues to follow through on its commitment to modernize LaGuardia Airport, with the strong support of Governor Cuomo and his Advisory Panel," says Port Authority chairman John Degnan. "By utilizing an innovative public-private partnership in this endeavor, the agency is also taking another important step in bringing state-of-the-art financing techniques to the task of updating our region's airports and other critical infrastructure."

"For too long, LaGuardia has been the stepchild of our region's airports compared to JFK and Newark International," says Port Authority vice chairman Scott Rechler. "Today we took the first step in moving forward with a comprehensive master plan to redevelop LaGuardia into a 21st century, world-class airport that the State of New York deserves." "Today's Board action is a major step in the modernization of LaGuardia and a huge step toward Governor Cuomo's goal of 21st Century airports in New York," said Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye.

Also expressing support for the airport's redevelopment project moving forward is the Association for Better New York. In a statement, Jennifer Hensley, executive director of ABNY, states. “The Association for a Better New York congratulates the Port Authority on the selection of LaGuardia Gateway Partners as the developer for LaGuardia's Central Terminal Building. This investment in our city's key airport is long overdue. We are confident LGP will bring innovation, state-of-the-art design, and top-level management to this important project, and we urge both sides to move forward quickly to negotiate the contract and get this project underway as quickly as possible so that our city's workers, residents and visitors can all start to benefit from a new Central Terminal Building.”

Skanska in a press announcement concerning its participation in LaGuardia Gateway Partners, states that the project is expected to be financed using equity, debt, passenger facility charges, retail and airline revenues. Skanska's share of the equity investment will be up to 40% and the share of the construction contract is 70%, which will be divided between Skanska USA Building and Skanska USA Civil. No order bookings or investments will be accounted for until financial close, which is expected to be in 2016. Construction is expected to start immediately following financial close, the company reports.