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SALT LAKE CITY — More changes were revealed Monday at Salt Lake City International Airport as new facilities for rental cars began serving customers.
The airport, which serves nearly 22 million passengers per year, is undergoing a $1.8 billion redevelopment, with the first phase scheduled for completion in 2020. To prepare for future construction of the terminal redevelopment program, two new facilities were constructed to service rental cars.
One is a quick turn-around building, and the second includes three rental service buildings. Construction on the facilities began in November 2014, explained Mike Williams, terminal program redevelopment director.
"The rental car companies all had their own individual buildings before, so now they are all consolidated into one facility," Williams said.
The quick turn-around facility is used by the rental car companies to fuel, clean and prepare the cars upon return, as well as housing administrative offices for the rental car companies, he said. The second level of the building is the size of almost four football fields and holds up to 900 cars, he added.
The rental service complex is used for light maintenance, such as oil and tire changes and body repairs, along with administrative offices. So far, about $90 million has been spent during the initial phase of construction, Williams said.
"Now that we've done this first part, we'll start building the new parking deck, the terminal building and the new concourse," he said.
The new facilities include 64 fuel pumps and 14 car wash units that recycle 85 percent of the water used. The previous rental car service facilities are located on property that will be needed for the terminal redevelopment project, Williams said.
The old buildings will eventually be demolished to make room for the terminal entrance road, a portion of the new parking deck and part of the new terminal, he said.
The tenants of the new service facility include Avis/Payless, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National/Alamo and Thrifty/Firefly. The facility is run by Conrac Solutions, a third-party manager that is responsible for the functionality and operational efficiency of the building.
