Aviation Division Plans $50M Office Project

PHOENIX-In a move to consolidate personnel and operations, the City of Phoenix Aviation Department will build an office complex at Sky Harbor International Airport. The $50-million project, still in design phase, will break ground in the summer and deliver in 2008.

The department operates three airports: Sky Harbor International at 3400 E. Sky Harbor Blvd., Phoenix Deer Valley Airport at 702 W. Deer Valley Rd. and Phoenix Goodyear Airport at 1658 S. Litchfield Rd. The two municipal airports are coming into their own as viable backups for Sky Harbor due to their growing markets and increased air traffic.

Once completed, the office complex will bring together nine divisions that are currently spread among different locations, including the three airports. The city has brought in McCarthy Building Cos. Inc.’s Tempe team to develop the complex. SmithGroup of Phoenix has designed it.

While McCarthy has worked on aviation projects in the past including development of Sky Harbor Terminal 4 and an upgrade of the international terminal, the owner-occupied complex is a different step for the construction company. “An owner-occupied office building for airport personnel is a departure from our past projects at Sky Harbor, but still an exciting voyage,” Bo Calbert, president of McCarthy’s southwest region, says in a press release. Calls to McCarthy and the city’s aviation department were not returned by press time.