The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority approved a $5.8 million contract this week that moves forward with the demolition of portions of Concourses A and C at Memphis International (MEM) – the first of several phases of an overall $114 million project aimed at transforming the airport.
“I told the board Thursday what we all need to keep site of is that this is a phase of what will be a four- to six-phase project that gets us from now to 2020,” says Scott Brockman, president and CEO.
The board awarded the demolition contract to Chris Woods Construction Co. Inc. The company will start demolishing the southern end of Concourse A in the next three to four weeks. When that is completed, MEM officials will relocate several airlines in Concourse C. The demolition of the south side of that concourse is expected to be finished by the end of 2015, Brockman says.
Once the demolition work is finished, MEM will move forward with plans to modernize Concourse B, which is becoming the heart of the airport’s operations. That concourse will be widened. Moving walkways will be installed and the roof will be raised to allow for natural light, Brockman says.
The downsizing of concourse space and the modernization of Concourse B, now deemed “Main Street,” stem from Delta Air Lines closing its hub at the airport, which has decreased the number of flights dramatically. Brockman says the general mood at MEM is good these days.
“I think overall, the mood is that this is a wonderful vision for the future and that it is a necessary improvement,” he says. “It is an improvement that will take us well into the future. … We can’t live in the past.”
