Nashville Airport Upgrade Is Flight of Fancy
Published Apr 30, 2009
Visitors can wait for their loved ones in comfy leather chairs listening to live music. A Starbucks fix is available on the public side of the security checkpoint. The checkpoint itself is streamlined and easier to navigate.
The improvements are part of a $150 million, multiphase renovation at Nashville International Airport.
The first phase wrapped up in February 2009, adding more vendors, restaurants, performance space and other amenities that make it clear which city the facility calls home.
Homegrown eateries setting stakes in the airport include Swett’s, a “meat-and-three” joint; Whitt’s, a Nashville-based barbecue chain; and Tootsies Orchid Lounge, a downtown honky tonk mainstay. The airport now has five performance stages and more display space for regional art. And it has two Starbucks – one on Concourse C and one in the new “meet and greet” café area just outside it.
In surveying passengers, airport officials learned that travelers wanted national brands they recognized, but also wanted to feel like they were in Nashville, says Emily Richard, the airport’s spokeswoman.
Those ideas came through in the Master Concession Plan and other changes, she says.
“Even if you don’t get out of the airport it feels like you’ve been to Nashville,” Richard says.
Bell Construction is the general contractor. Renovations began in October 2006 and Phase I, which included new spaces for food, beverage and retail vendors, cost about $40 million. The project also upgraded skylights, revamped the security checkpoints and reconfigured the public seating areas outside the now-consolidated checkpoint.
Phase II will start in the second half of 2009 and wrap in 2010, Richard says. Restroom renovations and new carpet and wall coverings will be the most visible changes. Other components will include new ticket counters, gate podiums, bag claim area renovations, a bigger ticket lobby and new heating and air conditioning units.
Story by Pamela Coyle
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