Gainesville Regional Airport broke ground for a new covered parking garage and multimodal transportation center on Tuesday. 

“It’s all designed to help make things easier for you,” Allan Penksa, the airport CEO, said in a speech. “And we hope that you’ll appreciate it, and that you’ll enjoy this building.” 

The parking garage will offer covered long-term parking, with fully covered accessibility to the airport entrance. Penksa said though anyone can park in the garage, it was designed with elderly and disabled people in mind. 

Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward, Alachua County Commissioner Mary Alford and Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper were all in attendance at the groundbreaking. Ward said he remembers flying out as a child from a Gainesville airport that felt like it was made up of portables, a far cry from the airport today. 

“So every time we add something else to this, I feel real good about it,” Ward said. “I feel like our community has arrived every time we do one more thing. We’re never quite gonna get all the way there because there’s always one more thing to do. But I’m real proud of our airport board.” 

The project represents a $13 million investment, according to Todd Chase, a member of the Gainesville-Alachua County Regional Airport Authority (GACRAA) board. Chase said the airport is spending a total of about $52 million on improvements.

Half of the funding for the parking garage came from the Florida Department of Transportation, and half from the airport. The covered walkway and canopy will cost $1.8 million, most of which is covered by a $1.67 million grant from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

The parking garage and multimodal transportation center will feature over 400 parking spaces, electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and restrooms, and a covered walkway. There will also be a place for transportation network company (TNC) drivers from companies like Uber and Lyft to queue up. 

According to Chase, the airport had a plan for a covered parking garage in 2018, and that plan was ready to proceed when the COVID-19 pandemic stopped in the spring of 2020. Now, he said, the airport is back to functioning at pre-COVID levels, and the need for parking has reared its head again. 

“It shows you how long it takes to have the vision and to anticipate the growth,” Chase said at the groundbreaking. “The airport has grown. We need more parking, it’s clear.”  

Though GNV has overflow parking which is not as far from ticketing as at larger airports, Allan Penksa noted that the airport is also entering its busy season. He said business flyers have also mentioned that they would like a covered area to park their cars when they travel. 

Penksa said the project should be finished within 10-12 months, a speedy process because most of the concrete parts are prefabricated in Tampa. 

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional funding information.