RAZING HELL
$4 billion to destroy and rebuild LGA
It ’s the end of an error. Loathed by fliers and dissed by Vi ce President Joe Biden as “Third World,” La Guardi a Airport will be torn down and rebuilt in a $4 billion makeover announced yesterday by the veep and Gov. Cuomo.
La Guardia Airport is about to go from a state of disrepair to state of the art.
The facility that Vice President Joe Biden once dubbed “Third World” is going to be completely torn down and rebuilt as a single, sleek building as part of a $4 billion project aimed at drastically reducing flight delays and getting the airport into the 21st century, officials announced on Monday.
The extreme makeover will also add badly needed AirTrain and highspeed ferry service to the overcrowded, delayridden gateway to the Big Apple.
“This is what New Yorkers deserve and have deserved for a long time. And now we’re going to get it,” said Gov. Cuomo, who gleefully announced the plan alongside Biden and Port Authority officials.
“There is no way to fix this. We need to literally tear it down and rebuild it. It’s not a plan, not a sketch, not a dream, not a vision, it is actually happening.
“New York had an aggressive, cando approach to big infrastructure in the past — and, today, we’re moving forward with that attitude once again.” Among the highlights:
A unified terminal 600 feet closer to the Grand Central Parkway, providing 240 percent more space to runways and flight operations. Highspeed ferry service with boats docking at the existing Marine Terminal. Passenger access to gates via pedestrian bridges high enough for aircraft to taxi underneath.
A stateoftheart security system that will be three times as large as the current operation and slash wait times. Roads reconfigured to reduce traffic and improve passenger access.
A Central Hall with increased space for highend amenities, including retail shops and a 200room boutique hotel. An increase in passengers from 27 million in 2014 to 35 million. The creation of 8,000 construction jobs and 18,000 permanent jobs both at the airport and in businesses that service the airport. “Middleclass jobs. Jobs you can raise a family on,” Biden said.
The new La Guardia will be paid for by a privatepublic partnership, with the PA kicking in roughly half.
Nearly as many planes will be able to fly in and out of the airport during construction as there are now, said Patrick Foye, executive director of the PA.
“There are going to be times when flights have to be scaled back, but mostly it will continue to operate at its current level,” he said.
The new terminal will be built to better withstand storms like Hurricane Sandy, which swamped the airport with 100 million gallons of seawater and shut it down for two days in 2012.
In May, the PA selected a group led by Swedish construction company Skanska AB to help finance, build and manage the replacement.
Cuomo had asked three companies — Dattner Architects, PRESENT Architecture and SHoP Architects — to submit proposals for a design contest. All three won.
Each company will receive $250,000 for its ideas, because parts of each design were incorporated into the vision for the unified terminal structure.
The overhaul is part of a plan aimed at improving four airports in the greater New York area.
Stewart Airport in Orange County and Republic Airport on Long Island would both be given a STARTUP NY designation that would allow new and expanding businesses to operate there tax free for 10 years.
JFK Airport would have its architecturally distinct Saarinen building reconfigured into a hotel.
Biden, Cuomo and other officials all ripped the current La Guardia at the Association for a Better New York luncheon in Midtown.
“It’s slow, it’s dated, it has a terrible frontdoor entranceway to New York,” the governor said, calling it “unNew York.”