Spokane International Airport says its seeking construction bids for the $12 million second phase of a roughly $14 million upgrade to its rental-car facilities, and expects to select a contractor for the project and start construction in early February.


SIA already is under way on phase one of the project, located at the 16-acre rental-car area northeast of the main terminal, close to Flint Road. The airport is doing the project in two phases so that rental-car companies can keep operating during construction, says spokesman Todd Woodard. It expects to wrap up the entire project by next November.


Inland Asphalt, of Spokane, has nearly completed the first phase of construction, which involves prepping the site for the second phase, Woodard says. The $12 million second phase is to include building a nearly 24,000-square-foot service facility and expanding the parking lot where customers pick up and return rental vehicles, he says.


Rental-car companies currently operate in seven buildings, which will be demolished to make way for the new service building, where maintenance and car-wash bays will be housed for the rental companies, says Teresa Foster Eckard, project manager at SIA. A separate structure nearby will provide vehicle-fueling and vacuuming services. Other upgrades to the rental-car area will include vehicle canopies, pedestrian canopies, and customer-service kiosks, Eckard says. The project also will increase the number of ready-return spaces, where customers pick up and return vehicles, to 566 from the 357 there currently.


We have a limited amount of space to work with, so were trying to consolidate the services, says Jim Cortner, principal of Spokane-based Cortner Architectural Co., which designed the project. The goal is to improve safety and efficiency.


During the projects second phase, SIA will set up a temporary rental-car lot in part of the outside parking lot thats adjacent to the airports parking garages, Eckard says. The entrance and exit for rental-car customers will be accessed via Power Road, which also provides access to the Ramada Inn.


The rental-car area in the airports main terminal building, which has booths where customers rent vehicles, isnt part of the upgrade project. That wing was remodeled this past summer to accommodate an eighth rental-car company, Alamo Rent A Car.


SIA is financing the project through money received from passenger facility charges, Woodard says.


Contact Emily Proffitt at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyp@spokanejournal.com.