Not everyone gets a second chance, but the Lee County Board of Port Commissioners granted it to the original companies contracted to build the Terminal Expansion Phase One project at Southwest Florida International Airport. The project is now more than four years behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.

Commissioners voted unanimously 5-0 to spend $346.7 million more for a project that originally was budgeted for $307.6 million and would have been completed by now. The project will expand the terminal by remodeling 164,000 square feet of space and adding 117,000 square feet.

In August and September 2023, Manhattan Construction began to realize the structural integrity of the designs made by AtkinsRealis were not working, Manhattan Construction President John Reyhan told the board March 24 at the training and conference center at 15924 Air Cargo Lane, adjacent to the airport.

Property tax dollars do not pay for the project. Funding comes from General Airport Revenue Bonds and grants from the Federal Aviation Administration and Florida Department of Transportation grants.

Hennigan presented Manhattan’s construction findings to the board. He said concrete was not technically feasible and did not meet tension strength requirements. The steel columns were sufficient to 110 mph winds but needed to meet a 167 mph threshold per building codes. And the floor loading capacity was exceeded, Hennigan said.

These deficiencies resulted in massive amounts of additional manpower hours and materials to be ordered.

They required 110,000 additional fabrication/erection hours, 1,693 tons of original steel requiring 440 more tons of new steel, a 26% increase. Of 9,154 items originally fabricated, 1,982 items, a 22% increase, needed to be redesigned. There were 66 existing trusses that all needed to be modified.

All of these design deficiencies drove up the cost, Hennigan explained.

“What took so long?” Commissioner Mike Greenwell asked. “What took so long for us to start back? I think it’s important for me to get on the record, what took so long? What’s the reason for that?”

It took Atkins 18 months to do the redesign, Hennigan answered, following six months of investigation by Manhattan, which hired a third-party engineering company to work on its own behalf.

Reyhan assured the board it had a handle on the project now.

“We are committed 100% to completing the job,” Reyhan said. “It is a promise. We are comfortable with the design. We‘re ready to get it done on time and on budget.”

The board received similar assurances from AtkinsRealis.

The Port Authority hired an independent consulting firm to help oversee the restarted project to avoid future problems like during the first attempt.

AtkinsRealis refunded the county $3.3 million.

“This was a lightning strike almost,” Commissioner Brian Hamman said during the meeting. “A catastrophic mistake made by the engineer of record. Sounds like it doesn’t happen very often.

“We have engaged more oversight now to look for future opportunities of waste, fraud and abuse. The other thing we look at is do we have a good plan moving forward? We’ve done everything we can to strengthen our contracts. I feel like we’ve hit those boxes, as well.”

After the meeting, Hamman and Commissioner David Mulicka each said time and escalating costs forced their hands to vote on restarting the project and renewing the contracts with the original contractors. Going in a new direction would have delayed the project by even more time and would have further driven up the costs, they said.

“I want to get this airport open and take care of our customers and make sure they’re happy when they arrive,” Mulicka said.