The massive expansion project at Southwest Florida International Airport was supposed to be finished last month and open to the public; however, Gulf Coast News has learned it is years away from opening and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.
The airport, which sees more than 11 million passengers a year, was building a new terminal to accommodate the growth, but design flaws in the project have put it years behind schedule.
The flaws forced a redesign, which has been in the works for 17 months, and it doesn’t appear work is ready to resume on the project any time soon.
The entire project was supposed to cost $307 million. The contractor on the project now wants another $347 million to finish the job, more than double the original cost.
The expansion project calls for consolidating security checkpoints into one location instead of four separate locations at each gate. The work, which included upgraded restaurants and concessions, was supposed to be completed by the end of January.
A sign posted at the airport read the future is happening, but for many, not fast enough.
The design flaw discovered back in September of 2023 stalled everything.
Gulf Coast News obtained an email sent to port authority board members from a former project director who warned he found the failing steel connections would have collapsed the roof. He has since resigned.
Newly elected Lee County Commissioner David Mulicka, who also serves as a Port Authority Board member along with the other commissioners, said he’s not sure how engineers missed the design flaw.
“They were on the job for three years before we ever started work along with the contractor,” Mulicka noted.
Mulicka has a desk littered with documents on the project, and he said he has been over the work done and not done.
When asked how the mistake wasn’t caught and why it has taken so long to address, Mulicka said it is the very question he has been asking.
“I was told by the contractor and the engineer that never in their careers have they seen a project go this sideways as this one has. I said why wasn't it more obvious to catch? If it never happens, why didn't we know it sooner? I'll tell you know when I get those answers,” Mulicka promised.
Gulf Coast News also discovered documents that reveal expensive airport windows should have been stored indoors but instead were kept outdoors for more than a year, now need to be replaced, and they want another $5.8 million to replace them.
“This is a mess! It really is. It's a crying shame,” Mulicka said.
What's next? The Port Authority Board made up of county commissioners, must decide whether to approve $347 million dollar contract changes-- that will more than double the cost to complete the expansion.
I want to make sure we're not being billed to fix their own problems that we shouldn't be accountable for,” Mulicka said.
Commissioner Brian Hamman, who sits on the Port Authority Board, said he agrees.
Both men believe the contractor will come back with a better offer if they want to finish the job.
“At some point, you're either going to be negotiating a settlement here, or there may be litigation, but I'm hoping everyone can put that aside right now for the good of the project,” Hamman said.
As costs rise and time passes, Hamman said it's important to note it is not property tax dollars that fund the work but instead traveler fees, which are paid by travelers who use the airport.
Hamman insists it must be completed sooner rather than later.
“We're absolutely frustrated and doing all we can to hold all the parties accountable,” Hamman said.
A meeting on Thursday to discuss the next step was canceled, and no new date to meet has been set yet.
As it stands now, the project is expected to cost more than $650 million to complete and may not be finished until late 2008.