Jan. 25—Hartsfield-Jackson International is moving forward with plans to add more eateries and retail on Concourse T — the airport's first new concessions contract since the start of the pandemic.
The Atlanta airport invited companies to compete for a contract to open three food-and-beverage locations and one retail location on a new wing of the concourse. The $330 million Concourse T expansion adds five gates and 6,000 square feet of concessions space. The first three gates are expected to be complete by October and the remaining two gates along with the new concessions should open by December.
Five companies have now submitted proposals: AETC Airport Employment and Training Center Inc., Delaware North Companies Travel Hospitality Services Inc., Host Stellar DCG SCR CIX ATL LLC, Paradies Lagardere @ ATL T-North LLC and PhaseNext Hospitality LLC.
All are led by firms that already operate at Hartsfield- Jackson. The Host Stellar group is a joint venture of Host International Inc., Stellar Partners Inc., Diversified Concessions Group LLC, S&C Robinson Enterprise LLC and Cloud IX Airport Concepts LLC. The Paradies group is a joint venture of The Paradies Shops LLC, Sonat Hospitality Group LLC and SJAC ATL Airport LLC.
Most new concessions contracting at Hartsfield- Jackson has been put on hold during the pandemic. Before COVID-19 hit, the airport had started a process to accept bids for dozens of restaurants and shops. Then, passenger traffic at Hartsfield- Jackson plummeted by 60% in 2020 and drove the majority of concessions locations to temporarily close.
The airport granted rent relief to concessionaires, canceled the bidding process to bring in new restaurant operators and moved to extend existing contracts for up to three years. Concessionaires were struggling and couldn't get financing for new locations.
Today, concessionaires are dealing with a different challenge: They are having difficulty finding enough workers to operate all of their locations, so some locations at the airport remain closed.
With the lease extensions set to run through June 2024, Hartsfield- Jackson now plans to start the contracting process this summer to revamp more than 125,000 square feet of existing concessions space, according to Jai Ferrell, Hartsfield- Jackson's assistant general manager of commercial development.
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