"New Michigan Airport Terminal to Get Grand Opening"

Wednesday, August 6, 2003

New Michigan Airport Terminal to Get Grand Opening
The Detroit (MI) Free Press


The public will get a first view Friday at a new Michigan airport terminal
that looks like an upscale Up North resort.

The 34,500-square-foot Pellston Regional Airport terminal has log canopies
and an exterior of shingles, gables and stone.

Inside are cultured stone fireplaces, log installation by Town & Country
Cedar Homes of Petoskey, a trophy room where mounted elks and pheasant
overlook Internet data ports and semi-circular phone booths made from
enormous spruce logs.

Owned by Emmet County, the new terminal is three times as big as the one it
replaces to serve increasing demand. About 65,000 passengers used the
airport last year compared with 55,000 in 1997, according to airport manager
Kelley Atkins.

Northwest Airlines' Airlink service, the airport's sole carrier, increased
seats on the Pellston-Detroit route 15 percent starting May 1, he said.
There are six arrivals or departures daily during peak summer tourist time.
Passengers are drawn from communities such as Mackinac Island, Cheboygan,
Harbor Springs and Cross Village.

The terminal cost $8.1 million. The county contributed $370,000 and the rest
came from federal and state funds for airport development, money raised from
the sale of aviation fuel, ticket taxes and aircraft registration fees.

Expected to be in use by late September, the terminal contains $600,000 in
items the airlines often have to pay for, such as baggage belts and two new
boarding bridges, Atkins said. At the old terminal, passengers had to walk
outdoors between the planes and the building.

The facility has an upstairs public observation deck, a restaurant
overlooking the two jetways and a conference room, all open to the public.
Two taxi and two rental car companies will serve passengers.

Atkins said originally, airport officials planned to renovate bathrooms in
the old terminal for $80,000. But they came to realize that so much in the
32-year-old building was outdated, it was better to start fresh with a new
building.

To give architect Paul Powers of Mead & Hunt in Madison, Wis., a feel for
northern Michigan, Atkins invited him to take a three-day road trip to
locales the airport serves. Powers then came up with the resort-style design
that he said is unique among regional airports in the nation.

"I wanted people when they arrived to feel like they actually got to the
resort area," he said. Construction began in June 2002; the Christman Co.,
of Lansing was the construction management firm.

To prepare for Friday's grand opening, workers are finishing the log
staircase, polishing the terrazzo floors, vacuuming the red plaid carpets
and unpacking rustic Old Hickory furniture, including rocking chairs, that
will be placed around the fireplaces and observation deck. Area residents
have donated artifacts -- antique skis, airplane props, historic photographs
-- that add to the lodge ambience. The Little Traverse Historical Society
will have a display that will change periodically.

A few curious passersby wandered in for a peek at the log staircase, the log
ticket counter shelves, the moose-and-pine silhouettes on amber lamp shades.

"Wow. I've never seen anything like it," said Gerry Raymond of Traverse
City, who was there Saturday with her husband, Jiggs.

Atkins said 80 percent of the project's contractors are based in northern
Michigan and many will use the new terminal for business.

"They are going to bring every client in the world through this place. This
is one of their showrooms now," he said. About 75 people will work at the
terminal, about the same as at the old one. It will be torn down and
replaced with a parking lot.

In 2002, only the regional airport in Flint had a bigger percentage increase
in air passengers than Pellston, according to Atkins. He hopes the new
terminal will attract a carrier to Chicago, service that was discontinued
from Pellston several years ago.

Elsewhere in the northern Lower Peninsula, an airport terminal complex is
under construction in Traverse City. The Cherry Capital Airport terminal
will be 115,000 square feet, about 2 1/2 times as large as the old one,
according to Stephen Cassens, airport director. It is expected to open in
fall 2004.

The grand opening of the Pellston Regional Airport terminal will be from 1-4
p.m. Friday. The airport is on U.S. 31 at the northern edge of Pellston.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dc/dcboard.php

*****************************************