SRQ breaks ground on $25 million air traffic control tower
MANATEE -- Local, state and federal officials who broke ground Friday for the new $25 million air traffic control tower at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport say the project will not only accommodate more flights, but will grow SRQ's profile as a business park.
About 50 people who turned out for the invitation-only event applauded statements concerning job creation and the development opportunities the new tower will create. Located just northwest of the SRQ terminal, the new tower will open about 100 acres of commercial land at the airport's northwest edge when the existing, 30-year-old tower is torn down.
"This is about jobs and opportunities," U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, said at the project site Friday morning. "When you think about the big airports in the country, whether it's Tampa, Atlanta, Miami or Dallas, they create a lot of spinoffs, small business opportunities, a lot of good paying jobs."
Fredrick "Rick" Piccolo, SRQ airport CEO, said the bare land alone should generate about $2 million a year in rental income from commercial businesses or fixed-base operators.
Buchanan is one of many who have pushed for funding for the new tower. The airport, the Florida Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration will each pay a third of the project cost.
Dennis E. Roberts, administrator of the FAA's Southern Region, said having several funding partners was crucial to getting the tower built. His own agency kicked in money from its airport improvement fund.
"This is creative financing at its greatest," he said.
Work on the 139-foot-tall structure will begin a few days after Thanksgiving. General contractor Halfacre Construction of Lakewood Ranch will head the $16 million construction portion of the project. Halfacre owner Jack Cox said the work will require about 30 contractors and more than 100 construction workers. His company won the bid earlier this year to build the tower and an attached, 9,400-square-foot building that will accommodate administration and training facilities.
Halfacre has experience in airport control tower construction, having built one in Punta Gorda four years ago.
About $9 million of the total project budget will go to new aviation technology that, according to the airport, will give air traffic controllers more precise, system-wide information about weather and flight data. The new tower will be somewhat closer to the center of aircraft operations, sitting next to fixed-base operator Dolphin Aviation and near the axis of SRQ's two runways. The current tower is located at the north end of the airfield on Clyde Jones Road.
Speaking on behalf of the state Friday, FDOT government affairs staffer Zachary Burch said the tower will be operational in time to guide additional air traffic expected in connection with the World Rowing Championship in September 2017. The current control tower at the airport handled about 100,000 aircraft operations last year.
Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027 or on Twitter@MattAtBradenton.
This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 2:53 PM with the headline "SRQ breaks ground on $25 million air traffic control tower ."