As the City of Vero Beach moves ahead with plans for piecemeal upgrades at the airport, where three airlines now operate, a successful developer is floating a comprehensive redevelopment plan that would include a new terminal and expanded parking.
The number of flights into and out of Vero has exploded over the past year, overcrowding the cramped and poorly configured historic terminal, forcing some passengers to wait for their planes outdoors in the heat and humidity.
The unsolicited proposal from Diversified Realty Acquisitions of Deerfield Beach seeks to construct a 20,000-square-foot terminal building and parking for about 900 vehicles that would not require the city to raise taxes, levy assessments or borrow money for construction.
Instead, Diversified would put up funding for construction and lease the terminal and parking operation back to the city. Diversified also would lease about 27 acres of airport property beneath the new terminal and parking lots.
The airport would continue to collect its fees from the airlines and vendors in the terminal under the terms of the proposal, including parking, and would pay Diversified a percentage of those fees. Once the cost of construction – about $20 million – is paid off, ownership of the terminal and parking lots would be turned over to the airport.
Diversified’s president, Cary Goldberg, said construction could get underway in short order. He believes his holistic proposal would create more efficiency and a better experience for travelers, which would also please the airlines. Passengers could wait for flights in a spacious, air-conditioned environment, instead of spilling out onto the tarmac.
Goldberg said his plan also offers a quick airport improvement financing solution to the city, which until now has funded most of its airport projects with state and federal grants that require a long application and approval process.
Diversified recently completed construction of six new hangars on property it leases from the city on the north side of the airport, and it is set to break ground in 90 days on construction of a 116-room Mariott TownePlace Suites hotel nearby, across from the Jackie Robinson Training Complex on 26th Street.
Diversified also has plans to develop a 1-acre site near the hotel, possibly as a family restaurant, Goldberg said, noting that improving the airport experience will likely boost occupancy at the hotel and put bodies in seats at the restaurant.
“We have a lot of vested interest in Vero Beach,” Goldberg said. “Improving the airport is good for the whole community. We have a creative approach. Let’s sit down and work through it.”
But city and airport officials say the plan would be financially risky for the city if one or more of the three airlines now servicing Vero Beach travelers – Breeze Airways, JetBlue and American Airlines – decided to pull out.
There is another sticking point, too. Diversified wants to purchase 72,673 square feet of hangar space from the airport, which it would operate along with its other hangars.
But City Manager Monte Falls said selling the hangars, which were constructed using federal and state grants, to a private entity is not something the city would want to do.
“When you get money from a granting agency and change the use of the project that you got the money for, you have to return the money,” Falls said. “That may count as a mark against us the next time we go to them for funding. We have a good relationship with our grant partners, and we don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.”
The city and Diversified are in agreement that changes need to be made at the airport. Besides sweaty passengers waiting for flights north, parking has become a problem at the tiny airport.
The city council voted last month to lease parking lot property to a vendor, rather than operate expanded parking service itself, said Falls, noting that the city is now negotiating a lease with Envision Parking Partners VC, LLC, of Vero Beach.
In related action, the city Planning & Zoning Board approved site plans last month for a 2,800-square-foot rental car building across from the airport terminal, to be constructed by Coppola Partners, LLC.
The city doesn’t currently have a plan to build a new terminal, Falls said.
Despite reservations, the city council and the airport commission have scheduled a meeting to consider Goldberg’s plan, or at least to consider discussing it, according to Falls.
In the meantime, a system of canopies is being erected outside the terminal to provide shade for travelers waiting to board outgoing flights, according to Airport Director Todd Sher, who said installation should be complete in four to six weeks.
In the hotter summer months, there will be fewer flights scheduled so there should be enough room for passengers to wait for boarding inside the terminal, Sher added.
