6-story parking garage approved for Sacramento airport. When will the $229M project be built?

Sacramento International Airport’s expansive renovation plan hit another milestone Tuesday with the approval of a nearly $230 million contract for the construction of a new parking garage that could add up to 4,500 new spaces.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve the $229 million contract to be awarded to Sacramento-based Otto Construction.

The new Terminal B Parking Garage — to be built on the west side of Terminal B — will replace the existing Hourly B Parking Lot. The new garage will provide up to 5,500 parking spaces, an increase of about 4,500 spaces at the airport, according to a county staff report accompanying Tuesday’s meeting agenda.

The new six-story parking garage is one of seven renovation projects that make up the airport’s $1.3 billion “SMForward” expansion plan, which was formally announced last year. SMF’s plan is designed to accommodate a projected growth in the number of passengers over the next seven years.

“Really looking forward to the groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings,” said Supervisor Phil Serna, who represents the county district that includes the airport. “And ultimately, as was mentioned, making sure that the customer experience, the traveling public experiences a better time using our airport, one that is already award-winning.”

T.J. Chen, the county’s deputy director of airport planning and development, told the Board of Supervisors that construction of the new parking garage will begin in October and is expected to conclude in May 2026. He said additional parking spaces was “the most desirable improvement” expressed by airport customers and stakeholders.

Along with the $229 million construction contract, the Board of Supervisors set aside $40 million for contingency costs and escalation costs for the parking garage project.

The SMForward plan includes a new covered pedestrian walkway near the automated shuttles that carry passengers from Terminal B’s main footprint to its gates. The walkway’s construction is expected to begin this summer and conclude by winter 2025.

The other airport improvement projects include a new Terminal A exit road; additional gates for Concourse B; expansion of Terminal A; a ground transportation hub for a more efficient shuttle system and a better flow of traffic; and a consolidated rental car center.

The new Terminal B parking garage also will provide capacity for displaced parking from the airport’s Daily Parking Lot, which will provide a location for the future consolidated car rental center, according to the county staff report. Construction for the car rental centers is expected to begin in fall 2025.

In October 2022, the Board of Supervisors approved a hike in airport parking prices, which would allow rates to increase each of the next five years. The rate increases served to keep pace with inflation and to help fund several improvement projects, most of them related to parking and ground transportation at the airport, a county staff report said at the time.