$170M Newark Airport Parking Complex May Make Renting Cars Easier

NEWARK, NJ — The clock is ticking on a plan to build a new, 3,000-vehicle rent-a-car facility and public parking complex at Newark Airport. And if the Port Authority of NY/NJ doesn’t reach a deal with a private developer by December, it could mean a $40 million difference in the final price tag.

On Thursday, the Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners announced that it approved a $170 million allocation to jumpstart the multi-million project, which will consolidate all of the airport’s rent-a-car facilities into a single complex next to the airport’s soon-to-be-redesigned Terminal A.

The new facility would have six levels of combined public parking and rental car operations, officials said.

Port Authority officials said that the new complex would replace parking areas for the current Terminal A, which opened in 1973 and is “cramped and outmoded.”

Building a consolidated rent-a-car facility (ConRAC) may also help to make renting a car at Newark Airport easier for travelers. Currently, rental car companies are spread out throughout the airport, and centralizing their operations will make commuters’ air-to-road transfer much simpler, officials said.

Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole called the project a “perfect complement” to the $2.7 billion redesign of Terminal A, which will be re-dubbed as “Terminal One.”

• See related article: $2B Newark Airport Project Gets Big Chunk Of Funds Approved

There are two versions of the ConRAC plan at Newark Airport, with a $40 million difference between them, Port Authority officials stated Thursday.

The first would have the Port Authority hire a private developer to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a ConRAC at Newark Airport. The Port Authority’s contribution to the project - which would include a public parking garage - would be capped at $130 million, officials said.

But if negotiations with developers are unsuccessful and a deal isn’t reached before December, the Port Authority will move ahead with Plan B… build its own stand-alone garage at a budgeted cost of $170 million.

Construction of the proposed integrated facility – which also allows for installation of a solar roof structure and electrical vehicle charging stations – could start in mid-summer 2019 and continue through the end of 2022, with the public parking elements completed by September 2021, Port Authority officials stated.

The Port Authority invested $8 million to conduct a feasibility study for the ConRAC project last year.

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