McAllen leaders outline $193 million terminal expansion, plan CMAR procurement

The McAllen City Commission heard an update on plans to expand the city's airport terminal, with staff saying the project budget is about $193,000,000 and that the city intends to procure construction services using a construction manager-at-risk (CMAR) delivery method.

The update came Tuesday during a commission workshop from Jeremy Zanesquoi, who presented details of the expansion and procurement approach to Mayor Pro Tem and commissioners. "We're adding ticket counters, adding baggage facility, adding admin areas, TSA screening areas, innovate renovating the TSA areas as well, enhancing the entry areas into the terminal, adding 4 more gates, and then renovating the federal inspection station," Zanesquoi said.

The nut graf: City staff said they will use CMAR so a construction manager joins the project during design to provide phasing, value engineering and cost estimation, and to deliver a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) that will form the basis for any debt issuance. John Nemet, city manager, and airport staff framed CMAR as a response to prior bid surprises on other city projects and said the FAA has approved this delivery method for the project.

City staff described the schedule and funding in the workshop. Staff said the work is currently estimated as a roughly two-year construction timeline and that the city has already approved a design contract at a prior meeting. Staff said a request for qualifications (RFQ) for the CMAR is expected to go out within about a month and that the commission could see an award recommendation around July. "The RFQ for the construction manager at risk proposals are should be out in the streets that we've coordinated with purchasing...we're probably looking at awarding a contract sometime in July," Zanesquoi said.

Staff said the project budget figure of about $193 million covers soft costs, design, construction management, materials testing and construction. They told commissioners the CMAR approach moves much of the schedule and cost risk to the contractor once a GMP is negotiated; if the project exceeds the GMP the contractor would bear that overrun risk under the contract terms staff described. Commissioners asked whether underspending would return savings to the city and staff replied that savings or shared incentives would be subject to contract negotiation.

Commissioners pressed staff on operational impacts during construction and on related elements such as parking. Staff said the expansion will add about 270 parking spaces via two new lots (one across the street and one in front of the taxi area) and that design-development for the lots is due in a few weeks with construction targeted to turn around by the end of the calendar year. Staff said short-term parking currently has roughly 200 spaces and that pricing and time limits (including a free 30-minute window) were adjusted after previous data collection to reduce meter use by "park and greet" patrons.

Staff also said some tenant-funded work is expected: concession and concessionaire build-outs often are funded by the tenant as part of RFP processes. As an example, staff said the most recent food-and-beverage concessionaire paid about $1,100,000 in improvements. Commissioners discussed the need to balance commercial and private aviation activity during construction and the city manager emphasized the economic importance of maintaining airline and general aviation activity.

The workshop discussion included process context: staff said CMAR presents potential time and cost savings because the contractor participates during design, but also requires careful phasing to keep terminal operations, FAA operating-certificate requirements and TSA security operations functioning during construction. Staff characterized this as the commission's first large-scale CMAR procurement and invited questions before issuing an RFQ.

The update did not include a new formal vote at the workshop; staff described next steps including issuing the RFQ and returning to the commission with an award recommendation later in the summer. Staff said the city is aiming to complete the overall program by 2029 as an "aiming point," but gave a multipoint schedule tied to design development, RFQ issuance and a GMP negotiation that will determine firm dates.

Ending: Staff and several commissioners said they will return with more detailed budget columns and funding-source breakdowns as the procurement proceeds. Commissioners did not take formal action during the workshop beyond asking questions and receiving the update.