Port Authority Celebrates Groundbreaking for Major King Airport Project

May 27—ST. THOMAS — King Airport is scheduled to be revamped over a six-year period, and the groundbreaking for the first phase of that project — a four-level parking garage and transportation center — was held at the airport Wednesday before a group of dignitaries and V.I. Port Authority leadership.

The dignitaries touted the territory's tourism product and detailed the revenue potential of the multimillion-dollar project.

Port Authority awarded the contract for the garage project to AT Construction, which entails building a structure that would include 600 parking spaces and a dedicated location for ground transportation and car rental operations.

Port Authority Assistant Director of Engineering Dale Gregory said the 2017 hurricanes brought heavy damage to the airport and the facility has been under steady repair ever since. Despite its condition, he said, the number of passengers coming through King Airport is on the rise.

Gregory pointed out that 1.4 million passengers came through the airport in both 2015 and 2016.

"The parking garage and transportation project will take the existing parking lot and create a multi-level parking garage including a rental car lobby area," said Gregory. "We'll streamline and simplify the rental car process and create a safer and more efficient taxi pick up process and the increase of additional parking spaces will result in additional revenue."

The $26.8 million project is being funded through a $20 million grant the U.S. Department of Commerce issued in 2019. Port Authority is required to provide a $6.8 million match. Port Authority Executive Director Carlton Dowe said that after speaking with car rental agencies that he and his team decided to implement a car rental facility charge to help fund the match. At $2 per car rented, that account currently has an excess of $1 million, he said.

Construction on the project is expected to be completed by March 2023. In phases two through four, the interior of the terminal will be expanded, redesigned and modernized to better utilize both floors of the terminal, Port Authority officials said. Also planned are jet bridges, additional lounge and concession spaces to provide more eateries, retail stores and contemporary traveler amenities, tropical landscaping, and improvements to the flow of traffic.

"Tourism is a primary driver of our economy here in the Virgin Islands and the Cyril E. King Airport is a major cog of the engine, some would call it the carburetor that drives the economy on a whole," Tourism Commissioner Joseph Boschulte said at the ceremony.

Passenger numbers for the summer look strong, he said, with airlift throughout the week at more than 20 a day, and on the weekends at more than 25 jets a day into the airport.

"I am proud to be Tourism commissioner, I'm proud to be a member of the Port Authority Board, and most importantly, I am proud to be a Virgin Islander, to see that we continue to progress in spite of the challenges we faced over the last decade," Boschulte added.

"We have an incredible opportunity to forge a new Virgin Islands. We are an abundant place," Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said during the ceremony. "In the Virgin Islands, we are bursting at our seams. We have so many tourists coming in, restaurants are full, not a car rental available and the hotels are at 80 to 90% in the midst of the coronavirus. The reason that we're able to do these things is because of persistence and the bravery of leadership and their ability to make decisions on the spot. I look forward to the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"That day is not far away. Now is the time for us to work as one team, as one Virgin Islands, bringing prosperity through the territory and ensuring that our future is bright."

Also attending the ceremony were Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett and Lilia King, the daughter of Gov. Cyril E. King, for whom the airport is named. King was instrumental in helping the territory obtain federal funding to upgrade airport facilities. He died in office in 1978.

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