Arthrex, the orthopedic surgical instruments company headquartered in North Naples, has been in negotiations to build a 1 million-square-foot facility as part of Southwest Florida International Airport’s Skyplex project.

A 40-year-lease agreement with the option to extend by 10 years to 50 years overall between Arthrex and the Lee County Port Authority was added as a walk-on item to the agenda for Jan. 16’s meeting. The new Arthrex Logistics Center building is planned on the north side of the RSW runway, adjacent to Arthrex’s transportation partner, FedEx, as well as UPS.

“The physical proximity to our shipping partners and the runway itself will provide a new level of efficiency in both domestic and international shipping directly out of RSW,” Athrex Vice President of Operations David Bumpous said. “This new ALC will serve to support Arthrex’s anticipated growth for decades to come.”

The public meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Jan. 16 at RSW’s Training and Conference Center, 15924 Air Cargo Lane in Fort Myers. The Lee County Board of Port Commissioners and Airports Special Management Committee also are scheduled to discuss the cost overruns for phase one of the Terminal Expansion project. The agenda said an additional $346 million will be needed on top of the original budget of $307 million. This would bring the overall price tag to more than $653 million. If approved, the construction timetable would be extended to 2029.

The Terminal E construction project, budgeted at a little more than $1 billion, broke ground last year.

An Arthrex build-to-lease deal would enhance RSW’s nonaviation-related revenue, said Randy Krise, a member of the committee and also a real estate broker.

Federal Aviation Administration guidelines require leases on airport land to be for no more than 40 years, Krise said.

“The bank would not give anybody money to build a million-square-foot building unless they had time to pay for it,” Krise said. “The FAA restricts it to 40 years for an initial lease. We cannot sell the land by law unless it’s some extreme surplus piece that’s not useful. It has to be leased.”

The port authority would have 33 months to prepare the land and get the entitlements — essentially a legal green light — to begin construction, Krise said. Arthrex then would have 30 months to build it.

That means the facility would not come online until, at the earliest, sometime in 2030.

“It’s a huge coup for the Skyplex,” Krise said. “It’s 48 acres. It’s a quality company of quality companies. Now we’ve got Gartner and Alta Resources and now Arthrex. Are you kidding me? That’s just wonderful news. And it’s good news for Lee County. Because it gives us economic viability. It takes unused, unproductive land and turns it into a revenue stream for the airport. That helps fund renovations.”

The port authority does not normally use property taxes as part of its funding, which is why it diversifies its income stream with nonaviation-related projects, such as Skyplex.

“The economic impact will be tremendous,” Krise said. “We’re a longevity thing. We’re not going anywhere. We’ve got time to invest over three and a half years and then recoup it over 40 years.”

A million square feet equals about 17 football fields in size — or about the size of 10 Walmart stores.

Gary Tasman, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield Southwest Florida, worked on creating a master-planned concept for Skyplex to create next-generation facilities. Skyplex encompasses about 1,800 acres, of which about 680 acres would be developed and the rest of the land preserved.

An Arthrex project would help to further boost Lee County’s economy, said John Shannon, a research economist for Florida Gulf Coast University’s Regional Economic Research Institute.

“It could mean a number of things,” Shannon said. “First off, you can think about construction. It’s going to make a short-term impact on construction jobs.

“Once that becomes operational, you’ll have jobs in logistics and manufacturing. They tend to be more and more — higher paying jobs. It brings more economic diversification to the area, right?”

The location just to the north of the airport can only help Arthrex, he said.

“Where they’re going to be located at the airport, this is going to create more efficiencies from a logistics standpoint,” Shannon said. “Where they can operate right at the airport.”

The planned future facility also could serve as another employment pipeline for future FGCU graduates, he said.

“That means we’re going to keep our workforce here,” Shannon said.