Lee County Port Authority board members and employees and Suffolk Construction celebrated the official groundbreaking of the $1.1 billion Terminal E expansion project at Southwest Florida International Airport — the most expensive municipal construction project in county history.
As they dug the ceremonial shovels into the ceremonial dirt March 12, an auger-cast piling crane in the background was working to install one of 2,600 steel pilings into the ground as work on the foundation continues.
“We’re about 70% done with that,” said Pete Tuffo, president of Florida Gulf Coast and Gaming for Suffolk Construction.
Terminal E will total more than 513,000 square feet and will add 14 aircraft gates. It also will have its own, nine-lane security checkpoint that will access all other gates. There will be new concession offerings, as well.
Vertical construction at the site should start becoming noticeable this fall, Tuffo said. For now, most of the work being done is taking place underground with sitework.
As news of foreign-produced steel tariffs enacted by President Donald Trump sets the stage for inflated prices of construction materials, Tuffo gave assurances the project would be finished on budget and on time, meaning fall 2027.
Tuffo gave those assurances while a neighboring airport construction project, that of the Terminal Expansion, continues to be delayed and will be at least $346 million over budget. Port Authority commissioners are scheduled to discuss the other project, managed by Manhattan Construction, on March 24.
“We are 100% bought out with all the trade partners,” Tuffo said of Terminal E. “Everybody who is working on this job is fully under contract and off and running.
“We’re very confident in our ability to deliver this project on time and on budget. We have the right team, meaning the Suffolk team that’s on-site, the great trade partners that were selected to do this job and our relationship with the port authority and the design professionals. That makes me feel very confident that we’ll deliver this project on time.”
There will be about 5,000 tons of structural steel used. All of it already has been ordered, and it will start arriving in mid-May, Tuffo said.
A “by the numbers” sheet presented by the port authority provided more details of what the Terminal E expansion entails: 84,900 square yards of apron concrete pavement for aircraft, 107,700 square yards of taxilane asphalt pavement for aircraft, 93,600 square yards of new and relocated taxiways, 133,200 tons of asphalt pavement, 283,100 square yards of cement-treated subgrade and 136,250 square feet of pavement markings.
Design highlights include: glass exterior walls showcasing the outside sky, a ceiling design to reflect calming waves of the Gulf and assist with the acoustics of the large space, tropical landscaping, terrazzo flooring with blues and tans and a revamped baggage claim area with nautical maps, floating ceilings and enhanced LED lighting.
“This is very exciting, not only for the airport, but for all of Lee County and those who live in the surrounding counties,” Port Authority Executive Director Steve Hennigan said. “This could be a huge economic driver. You heard earlier about $8.8 billion worth of economic impact to the region. This is only going to bring more. It really sets the county up and the residents, the visitors, for enhanced service and allow to accommodate the future growth of the area.”
Lee County commissioners Cecil Pendergrass and David Mulicka, who double as port authority commissioners, attended the ceremony and took their turns shoveling the ceremonial dirt.
“I think you can see how well-organized this is,” Mulicka said, motioning behind him to where the real work was taking place. “This looks like a billion-dollar job site, you know? I mean, it’s active, organized, clean — you can see the discipline. I mean, it’s going to make our capacity almost 50% greater than we have right now. That’s a big number — and a lot of new friends we get to welcome here.”
