Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport’s $28M Terminal Addition Completes Construction

General contractor McCarthy Building Companies recently completed construction of the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport’s (Gateway Airport) new 30,000-square-foot, five-gate terminal modernization project. Located in metro Phoenix, Arizona, the approximately $28-million project replaces a 14-year-old temporary passenger terminal annex, originally purchased in 2008 to accommodate airport’s increased flight traffic.

The newly completed terminal project provides a larger, modern, energy-efficient and ADA-enhanced commercial passenger facility designed to accommodate additional future growth. The project was largely funded by federal grants, including a $14.4-million grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and an additional $6-million grant awarded in 2023 by the Federal Aviation Administration.

With the temporary terminal annex building requiring frequent and expensive maintenance and the space restrictions of COVID social distancing requirements significantly limiting flight departures to one at a time in 2020, Gateway Airport highly prioritized the terminal modernization project to ensure it could support the projected growth during the next 10-15 years.

The terminal expansion includes a new glass pedestrian walkway that connects the existing terminal concourses, as well as a new tech lounge, restaurants and retail space.

Peak manpower on the project included 120 construction workers who safely logged 110,000 hours working without incident on the project. The Gateway Airport expansion included 527,000 pounds of steel, 5,000 linear feet of underground utility lines and 1,800 cubic yards of concrete.

The new terminal was constructed in 18 months while the airport remained fully operational and included demolition of the old facilities, major relocation of underground utilities and construction of a prefabricated, temporary, three-gate facility that will be deconstructed and stored for future expansions. DWL Architects + Planners served as the project architect.