Plans are moving ahead on a much-needed 3,500-space parking garage at McGhee Tyson Airport. In a work session June 19, developers introduced additional designs for the project to members of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners.
The updated construction costs are now estimated at $200 million, not including the debt issuance cost.
After presenting an initial concept last year, developers with firm Gresham Smith have further refined the garage plans, making tweaks they said Wednesday will iron out kinks and make the finished product a better fit for the area. The proposed design includes six floors of parking to be split between passengers and rental cars, with the bulk of the parking going to accommodate passenger travel.
The 1.2 million square foot garage will add capacity the airport is rushing to obtain right now. Passenger counts last year exceeded the number the facility is rated to handle, and one of the places that shows the most is in parking.
The airport’s current parking deck is often full to the brim.
Airport staff will have to sacrifice hundreds of parking currently available to make room for the new garage, which is slated to fill space occupied by short-term parking next to the terminal. In order to make up for that loss — and keep up with rising demand — staff have constructed additional parking lots and expanded others.
The design for the new garage draws inspiration from the Smoky Mountains and the architecture of the surrounding community, Gresham Smith Senior Project Manager Vincent Rodriguez told commissioners during a presentation Wednesday. The garage exterior will be covered in evenly-spaced uprights that won’t obstruct visibility from the inside, but from a distance will create a silhouette reminiscent of the mountains’ rolling slopes.
As the designs currently stand, four elevators will feature imagery of the surrounding area and digital signs will show the number of available spaces on each floor. A set of stairs will be visible from the structure’s exterior, which Rodriguez said should help passengers know it’s available and make locating it easier.
Materials for the garage should be easy to obtain, he said.
Developers brought a 3D-printed model of the garage’s corner for commissioners to inspect Wednesday, showing a portion of what the finished product could look like and garnering a favorable response.
“I’ve seen a lot of parking decks, but I’ve never seen one that I would call pretty,” board member Joe Dawson said. “But it contrasts very well and I think looks very attractive.”
The aesthetic design of the exterior, he said, would be beneficial to the airport since the garage will be directly beside Alcoa Highway. Designers have previously mentioned that the building will be the tallest structure in the surrounding area, making it a defining part of the local horizon.
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