St. Louis Lambert Airport Selects CMAR for Proposed $3B Terminal Overhaul
Officials at St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) are advancing a major effort to modernize the 68-year-old facility, negotiating a contract with the AEOCOM Hunt-Clayco Joint Venture to serve as construction manager at risk (CMAR) for the proposed $3 billion consolidated terminal project. At the same time, crews have broken ground on a new airfield maintenance complex.
“We’re working to get our construction manager-at-risk under contract for the terminal project,” says Jerry Beckmann, deputy airport director. He adds that the team aims to finalize terms by year’s end, allowing AECOM Hunt-Clayco to begin preconstruction services—including cost estimating and constructability reviews—for the plan to consolidate the airport’s two terminals into a single facility at the current Terminal 1 site, expanding gate capacity from 54 to 62.
Airlines serving STL have already approved $1 billion in design and construction funding for the terminal project, with HOK serving as lead architect. Whether the full modernization moves forward, Beckmann said, “hinges on an affirmative vote of the airlines, which may be next year.”
On Oct. 13, the airport broke ground on a $114 million Airfield Maintenance and Snow Removal Equipment Facility being built by Wright Construction Services of St. Louis.
The 285,000-sq-ft facility will consolidate snow removal, vehicle maintenance, materials storage, landscaping, and other airfield operations into one centralized location. Currently, these functions are spread across nine aging buildings, some more than 50 years old.
“This new facility represents a major step forward in strengthening the airport’s infrastructure,” said Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, STL’s executive director, at the groundbreaking. “The West Airfield Program is separate from the Consolidated Terminal Plan. These upgrades are necessary regardless of future terminal decisions, and the Federal Aviation Administration strongly supports them.”
Completion of the maintenance facility is targeted for late 2027. Once it’s finished, the airport will move on to the second phase of the West Airfield Program—the West Deicing Pad. Built on the site of the current maintenance complex, the new pad will allow aircraft to be deiced closer to runways, which the airport says will improve safety and efficiency while enhancing the ability to capture and manage deicing fluids.
Passenger traffic at STL is projected to grow to 21 million annually by 2040. Beckmann says that despite the airport’s modern appearance to travelers, “behind the walls it’s a struggle. The utilities are as old as the rest of the terminal.”
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