Thursday, March 28, 2024

City Council awards bids for new airport terminal, infrastructure as customer excitement builds

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As the years-long expansion project at the Granbury Regional Airport nears completion with new actions this week by the City Council, the project’s economic impact is already becoming evident.

Aviation Director Pat Stewart told the city’s Airport Board that companies and pilots are “ready to sign paperwork” for hangars and that fuel sales are on the rise after the recent commissioning of the new, longer runway, which can accommodate larger aircraft.

One company is wanting to bring five Cessna Citation jets to Granbury, he told the board at its Monday meeting, just minutes before a business jet landed and taxied to the terminal building.

“The customers,” Stewart said, “are beating down the doors.”

At its regular meeting Tuesday, the City Council voted unanimously to award bids for a new terminal building and for the road that will serve as the entrance to the airport. The connection of utilities will be part of the road project.

Jay Mills Contracting, Inc. was awarded the Archer Court project, which will provide the access road and utilities to the new airport terminal building. The building is also called an FBO, which stands for Fixed Base Operations.

The city opened bids on the project in September but did not receive any bids at that time.

It re-bid the project on Nov. 9. The proffer from Jay Mills was the only one received.

The company’s proposal was $2,754,684 with a 10% contingency of $275,468 to cover any potential unforeseen expenses related to the construction project.

The total project cost is $3,030,152.

The money will come from unused 2020 bond funds.

An additional phase of construction will be bid as soon as engineering design is completed.

That phase of work will include additional water, sewer and lift station facilities to provide water and sewer connections along Business 377 to Archer Court.

The cost for that work is estimated to be $1,259,500, including 10% contingency.

In a separate vote, the City Council also authorized City Manager Chris Coffman to execute a contract on behalf of the city for the new terminal building.

Five companies bid for that project. MSB Constructors, Inc. scored the highest in the grading system.

MSB Constructors’ base bid was $3.6 million, plus a 10% contingency of $360,000 to cover any potential unforeseen expenses. The total project cost is $3,960,000.

The terminal project will be paid for through three funding sources: Airport Fund Balance ($1,605,000), Airport 2016A Bonds ($695,000) and Unrestricted General Fund Balance ($1,660,000).

Construction of the terminal building is estimated to take about 10 months.

Communications Director Jeff Newpher said that construction should get underway in February.

The $32 million expansion project, half of which was grant funded, is expected to be completed near the end of 2023.