Horry County won't get a guaranteed price tag on its new terminal project at Myrtle Beach International Airport until late this year, Airport Director Bob Kemp said Wednesday.
Terminal construction costs creep higher each month the county is without a guaranteed maximum price -- an agreement with contractors that locks in construction costs. Meanwhile, Horry County is considering new incentives for airlines to pump up lagging traffic at its existing terminal.
The county originally predicted it would have a guaranteed terminal price tag in the summer of 2005 but revised its predictions again during a meeting with architects Wednesday morning.
The revised timeline will push the terminal opening to the beginning of 2009, Kemp said.
However, the county's new design team said the estimated $228.8 million terminal still appears to be within budget and work is under way to shear off costs.
While design work steams ahead, Kemp said an incentive of up to $150,000 to any airline that can add new routes might be necessary to regain airport business.
"Every airline is experiencing some problems providing service," Kemp said. "In order to encourage additional service, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we have to get into that [incentive] activity."
Kemp pitched the incentives Monday to the County Council Administration Committee, which approved of the plan to cut landing fees over six months for any airline that sets up service to a new destination.
"The airport has kind of hit a little dip here and we need to do everything we can. This is a no-brainer," County Councilman Harold Worley said.
Air service dropped 30 percent and the number of passengers fell 20 percent this spring at the Myrtle Beach airport from the same period last year, the county reported last month.
Councilman Mike Ryan said the dip in airline traffic could mean less revenue for the terminal project, which will be paid for partly by fees on passengers and airlines.
"When the terminal was discussed, it was going to be paid for from the passengers we have but now it looks like we are not doing as well as we thought," Ryan said.
Meanwhile, county staff and contractors are working to keep the terminal within budget and avoid ballooning costs, Kemp told the airport's advisory board Wednesday.
"The general consensus is the cost is not increasing because of that," he said.
The project hit a snag in January when the county fired its architectural firm over a money dispute but a new design team, Gresham, Smith and Partners, has been working to finish designs for the past month, Kemp said.
"We expect that the overall total [design] package will be done late this year. That will mean we will get [lead contractor] Skanska's cost estimate late this year," he said.
So far, plans have been tweaked to be more efficient and make better use of the space in the 14-gate terminal design, said Wilson Rayfield, senior associate for Gresham, Smith and Partners.
That includes moving a foreign passengers facility to the end of the concourse, limiting the number of materials used on the outside of the building and redesigning toilet stalls, Rayfield said.
"We feel like a lot of the changes we have made will save money," he said.
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About the projectNumber of gates | 14
Original cost estimate | $185 million
Current cost estimate | $228.8 million
Where | On land adjacent to the existing airport
Who pays | $120 million to be raised locally; the FAA has agreed to pitch in $43 million for the terminal project.
Designs must be 65 percent complete before contractors will guarantee a maximum construction price tag. Architects will work to cut construction costs and finish plans over the coming months. The county now hopes to have a final price tag late this year, pushing the terminal opening to 2009.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.
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