St. Pete-Clearwater Airport proposes $145 million terminal makeover
Renovating the St. Pete-Clearwater Airport
The Pinellas County Commission is exploring ways to update and improve the St. Pete-Clearwater Airport. FOX 13's Danielle Zulkosky reports.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - PIE is looking for a way forward with a previously paused expansion project.
This comes after officials scrapped a previous attempt in 2025.
The previous plan went over budget, and officials went back to the drawing board.
The St. Pete-Clearwater Airport is looking to move forward with an expansion and renovation project.
The airport initially started this project in 2023 but scrapped it when costs exceeded the budget.
Now officials are trying again while also attempting to increase funding.
"The airport has changed dramatically," said Mark Sprague, the director of the St. Pete-Clearwater Airport.
At a Pinellas County Commission Work Session, Sprague said it is time to improve the airport.
"Passenger traffic has increased over 67% in the last five years," Sprague said. "Operational and regulatory requirements have expanded. Our facilities are continuing to age."
The plan
What we know:
He said this airport needs new facilities, more gates and an updated facade to keep up with the demand.
"Renovations of our gates two through six," Sprague said. "This modernizes the hold room with new flooring, seating, and lighting, and passenger amenities, and also a new security checkpoint with new queuing and an exit lane technology."
More than aesthetics
Dig deeper:
It is not all front-facing infrastructure. The sanitary system will be updated too.
"Our sewage system, we replaced our pipes inside the terminal, we also replaced our pipes along their street side," Sprague said. "But we still have three sections that we need to pipe, and they're still original pipes from the 50s and 60s."
Officials also plan to improve efficiency to allow for expanded capacity.
"Up to 4.5 million passengers in our current footprint by expanding into a peer concept," Sprague said. "Once we have that new concept, we're going to build a 40,000 square foot elevated terminal, four to five new jet bridges."
The cost
By the numbers:
As for the cost, this project is valued at $145 million.
The work session was just the beginning for this plan.
Commissioners still need to approve the additional money, which could happen as early as Sept. 2026.
Officials plan to have designs by June 2026 if the funding is approved. If all goes well, construction would end in 2032.
The Source: