8 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 10, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photo courtesy of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s offi ce
Cuomo breaks ground on eastern portion of LaGuardia
Airport as transformation enters new phase
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced
on Tuesday that the east side of the new
LaGuardia Airport, which will house
Delta terminals, has offi cially started
construction.
Terminals C and D will be completely
rebuilt and the four new concourses
will be connected with a canopy and
walkways so passengers can easily access
other parts of the airport
Th is will be the fi rst major reconstruction
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of an airport in the country
since Denver International Airport was
built in 1994. In a visit to Philadelphia
in 2014, Vice President Joe Biden compared
LaGuardia Airport to a “third
world country.”
Soon aft er, Cuomo announced a $6
billion private-public partnership that
would transform the Queens airport,
which was opened in 1939, into a “globally
renowned airport.”
Construction began in 2016 on the
largest public-private partnership in
United States history, with LaGuardia
Gateway Partners fi nancing two-thirds
of the project. Delta Airlines will contribute
$3.4 billion to construct its new
terminal.
Half of the new gates in Terminal B
will be open to passengers by 2018. Th e
main terminal area, which will connect
Terminal B and Terminal C for the fi rst
time, will be open in 2020 and a second
set of gates will open in two phases – one
later in 2020 and the last phase in 2021.
“We’re going to build that’s smarter,
more effi cient, more eff ective than ever
before,” Cuomo said at the press conference.
He also announced that JLC
Infrastructure, a joint venture consisting
of Magic Johnson Enterprises and
Loop Capital Markets LLC, will become
a partner in the project with LaGuardia
Gateway Partners. Th is is the fi rst time in
the state’s history that a Minority Owned
Business will was named a partner in a
private-public project.
“Today this state is leading the way to
provide economic opportunity for every
New Yorker and ensuring that MWBE
participate at every level of the economy,”
said Marc Morial, president and
CEO of the National Urban League.
Th e airport will also include conference
rooms for business meetings, retail
and a new hotel. Terminals will also be
constructed closer to the Grand Central
Parkway, resulting in 240 percent more
tarmac space.
“We are building not only for this generation
but for generations that come
for our children, for our children’s children
and we are building every step of
the way, through this governor, a better
and a stronger and a more competitive
New York,” said Queens Borough
Melinda Katz.