The first project involved in the expansion of Tampa International (TPA) was completed under budget.
Airport officials and other dignitaries cut the ribbon this week on the airport’s new concessions receiving and distribution center.
“Opening the distribution center is essential to the success of our concessions program and of our overall expansion,” says Robert Watkins, chair of the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority. “The passenger numbers we’ve been seeing show how necessary the first phase of the master plan is. We are growing well beyond the two percent annual increases projected when we started planning this expansion.”
The airport experienced a seven-percent passenger increase in 2015 over 2014 and is on pace to serve a record passenger count in 2016, airport officials say.
The new 20,000-square-foot distribution center will help support TPA’s move from a single concessionaire model to a program featuring multiple concessionaires. It’s in a central location for receiving and screening food and merchandise for 65 new shops and restaurants before product is distributed to the airport. Those venues will open over the next two years.
Bradford Airport Logistics will operate the facility. It was built by J. Kokolakis Contracting Inc., a local construction firm in Tarpon Springs, Fla.
