The design firm selected to lead the terminal reconstruction at the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport says it has a strategy for a climate-friendly project, but big financing questions still remain.
ZGF Architects, a Portland-based national firm, beat out a field of 11 applicants to lead the project. It’s tasked with implementing terminal-specific community goals enumerated in the Common Ground Recommendations, authored through a yearlong community engagement process, formally adopted by the county in 2020.
Per the Airport Layout Plan submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration, the new terminal could have a footprint of up to 90,000 square feet.
“Build terminal spaces that can handle peak capacity but not feel built for peak capacity,” the CGR states in regard to terminal size.
An initial letter of agreement between the firm and the county amounts to $863,000, according to Deputy County Manager Ryan Mahoney. The letter runs through mid-September while the parties negotiate a larger contract.
Mahoney said that the rest of the contract would not be calculated as 10 weeks equal to $863,000, but would reflect the scope of work over given time periods. The terminal completion is projected for December 2029.
At the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners’ meeting on Tuesday, representatives from ZGF and partner consultants introduced themselves and their planned approach to terminal design.
ZGF has a history in the Roaring Fork Valley, having designed the Rocky Mountain Institute building in Basalt, which it pointed to as evidence of its commitment to sustainability. Chris Chatto, principal with ZGF, said the building generated 60% more energy than it used in its first year. It also has worked on the Portland International Airport terminal for decades, which Sharron van der Meulen, managing partner with ZGF, said is a similar project to the Aspen airport with its direct community goals and focus on sustainability.
“We’re passionate about sustainability, and I think it’s one of the things that makes us most excited about your goal to be the most sustainable airport in the world,” Chatto said. “There’s numerous ways we can look at this, but one of the things we’ll want to explore with you is looking at, across the world, what are the best practices.”
The firm partnered with Aspen-based Charles Cunniffe Architects to lead the project, which designed Aspen City Hall and the Aspen Police Department buildings.
The BOCC lauded the firm’s track record with sustainability, but expressed concern over endangering federal grants. Terms like “climate crisis” and “clean energy” have been identified as cause for further review by the Trump administration, according to The New York Times.
Commissioner Francie Jacober asked about the firm’s ability to ensure the project could be framed in a way that would not endanger federal grants sought by the county and airport.
“Your language is music to our ears, but not necessarily the people [in Washington],” Jacober said.
Team representatives said they’re already familiar with the problem and it’s all about how you present it.
“The framing that we are starting to use is independence, right? Energy independence — a lot of people want that for your home, for your community,” Paul Schwer, president emeritus of PAE, a firm ZGF is partnering with for the project, said. “And the other is economic vitality. How do you tie this to economics?”
Chatto agreed.
“As we design a low energy airport, it’s more resilient,” he said. “We want to really look holistically at what are the potential threats to operations, and how can this airport really kind of protect people [and] protect the economy.”
The firm plans to work with a pair of nine-member community task forces, focused on terminal design and multimodal connectivity, with decisions going through the Airport Advisory Board and then the BOCC. The task forces are chaired by AAB members with BOCC-appointed community members, which have not yet been finalized.
The firm plans to host three community meetings in the next four months, with the first tentatively scheduled in mid-October, according to Mahoney.
The first meeting will be about CGR interpretation, sustainability and goals for the terminal. The second will focus on three broad concepts for the facility, and the third will be a narrower focus based on feedback and progress from the second meeting.
“By the end of the year we’ll be trying to kind of corral into one main idea that we will then go ahead into schematic design to develop further,” Tony Martinez, associate principal with ZGF, said.
The total project cost is now estimated at $575 million, up from a May estimate of $518 million, according to Brad Jacobsen of Jacobsen Daniels, the county’s longtime airport consulting firm.
The county will consider at its Wednesday meeting a ballot question to issue up to $340 million general airport revenue bonds with a maximum repayment of $940 million to help finance the project, an ask that would not impact local taxpayers. The airport is a federally-obligated facility and its budget is an enterprise fund, in which all funds earned at the airport must remain within the airport.
Proceeds from the Atlantic Aviation lease, facility fees and state and federal grants are all tools for financing the airport projects, but any shortfall will need to be financed by bond funds.
While the estimates are informed by experts, according to Jacobsen, the project cost is still subject to change given the current economic conditions.
“We don’t know what the impacts on the tariffs are going to be. We don’t know the impacts if we go into a recession,” Jacobsen said. “There’s so many things that can happen with the macro economy that are going to affect this.”
Basalt-based firm Kimley Horn will lead runway design, a more technical process with less room for community input. The airport is tentatively scheduled for a nine-month runway closure beginning in spring 2027, in which the county aims to begin significant terminal construction to minimize impact to travelers.
The construction of the new terminal will occur while the airport is open, with the new facility located upvalley of the current building and facilities.
