FORT MYERS, Fla. — More time and more money. That’s what it will take to finish phase one renovations at the Southwest Florida International Airport.
Monday, the Lee County Port Authority Board voted to a roughly three-and-a-half year contract extension with developers that will cost more than $300 million, with part of that cost going towards fixing and redoing construction mistakes.
Commissioners tell Fox 4 community corespondent Stephen Pimpo that, while they, are not happy about it, it’s still the best way to get this project done:
“Nobody likes the delay, nobody likes the extra cost but it was the best decision that we could make today because saying no would’ve meant even more delay and even more cost,” said Lee County and Port Authority Commissioner Brian Hamman.
The board unanimously voted to grant the request of project engineer AtkinsRealis for $9,657,618, $307,653,291 to contractor Manhattan Construction and $12,580,296.73 to perform Construction Engineering & Inspection services. All contracts were extended by an additional 43 months after they were set to expire at the end of March 2025.
Overall, the budget for phase one increase by $346,792,083.
“They clarified and guaranteed on record that we could rely on that and that was meaningful to me because we didn’t have that before today for the last nine years,” said Lee County and Port Authority Commissioner David Mulicka.
The project to expand the main terminal was originally set to finish in October of 2024.
However, in 2023, Manhattan (through a third party they hired) discovered construction deficiencies such as concrete reinforcement and the need for stronger bracing for close to 80 columns. the project will need over 1,900 items redesigned and require close to 16,000 work hours for demolition alone.
“These companies’ reputations are on the line and I think they also know that thy’re also facing potential litigation in the future so I know everyone dotted their i’s and crossed their t’s maybe more than once,” said Commissioner Hamman.
Lee County Port Authority Executive Director and CEO Steven Hennigan said during the meeting that starting over with new developers would take another six to seven years and could cost $500 million dollars.
Before voting, Commissioner Mulicka made Manhattan and Atkins guarantee they could stick to this new timeline.
“When they both said that on record, you have that on record, I want you to save the tape and we’re going to hold them to that,” he said.
