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"Actually, I only come here, like, once or twice a year, and when I came in here I found it quite easy and stuff -- but it's just a little dirty," Julie Sweet of Holt says of Smith Terminal.New terminal gives Metro room to grow
The facility for Northwest's rivals will cater to travelers with shops, restaurants.
"It's one of the worst terminals," Wayne Kauffman of Atlanta, Ga., says of the cramped, 48-year-old Smith Terminal at Detroit Metro.Related links
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The Smith Terminal, long maligned for ratty carpeting, broken furniture and scarce shops and restaurants, will be razed after the new terminal is completed. The terminal will be designed to expand and offer new gates for airlines -- including Southwest, Spirit and American -- now flying out of Smith.
ROMULUS -- The new $403 million North Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport will give the region another gleaming welcome center, spur competition between airlines and relegate the dilapidated Smith Terminal to a bad memory in the minds of many fliers.
The Wayne County Airport Authority on Tuesday unanimously approved the final design for the new terminal set to open in 2008. The two-level, 27-gate terminal will cap the transformation of the once-shabby Metro Airport -- the world's 11th-busiest airport -- into one of the nation's best.
The North Terminal will be designed to expand and offer new gates for airlines -- including Southwest, Spirit and American -- now flying out of the cramped, 48-year-old Smith Terminal. It will also make room for new airlines, including possibly Jet Blue, to offer service in Metro Detroit.
The Smith Terminal, long maligned for ratty carpeting, broken furniture and scarce shops and restaurants, will be razed after the new terminal is completed.
"It's one of the worst terminals," said Wayne Kauffman of Atlanta, Ga. "Well, it's old. It's old! And it's not convenient, so they really need to (build a replacement)."
Even some travelers who found the Smith Terminal convenient said it's showing its age.
"Actually, I only come here, like, once or twice a year, and when I came in here I found it quite easy and stuff -- but it's just a little dirty," said Julie Sweet of Holt, who was reading and waiting for her son Travis to arrive from Washington, D.C.
The nearby now-closed Davey Terminal and Berry Terminal, which handles mostly charter flights, will be torn down as well.
The North Terminal will offer a host of boutiques and restaurants scattered throughout the facility along with modern baggage carousels and two security checkpoints.
"We had looked at one security checkpoint, but we wanted to move people through the new terminal as quickly as possible," said William Jay Hartman, principal of Detroit-based Gensler, the architectural firm selected by airport officials to design the terminal.
Demolition to begin this year
Later this year, Metro Detroit contractors Walbridge Aldinger Co. and Barton Malow Co. will begin tearing down the Davey Terminal. In the footprint, the contractors will build the 700,000-square-foot North Terminal that will run a half-mile long.
It will be connected to an existing parking deck by an enclosed skywalk. Travelers also can be dropped off or picked up in front of the new terminal.
The upper level of the North Terminal will have ticket areas, luggage check-in, security and several stores, restaurants and services. One goal is to bring as much natural light into the new facility as possible, Hartman said.
The lower level will be reserved for baggage, security areas and other airport functions. Upon arrival, international travelers will be processed in the lower level.
Airlines that will eventually use the North Terminal said they favored the simple design and convenient access. Spirit Airlines said it would offer nine gates at the facility, up from six gates at the Smith Terminal.
"The new design is a good outcome for everyone, especially our passengers," said Jacques R. Beaumier, senior director of airport affairs for Spirit Airlines.
Southwest Airlines said the new design will be more efficient. "We'll actually go from four gates to three gates once we're in the North Terminal, but we won't be reducing any services," said Marilee McInnes, a Southwest spokeswoman.
Food will be near the gates
Stores and restaurants for the North Terminal won't be selected until 2007, but most commercial operators will be located in the concourse where travelers find their gates.
"The stress level of passengers goes down considerably once they make it through security, so it makes sense to have the concessions near the gates," said Wayne Doran, airport authority board member and past chairman of Ford Motor Land Development Corp., the real estate arm of Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn.
There was some discussion by planners of placing some concessions near the new baggage areas, but Doran and other board members said passengers at that point are more interested in getting out of the airport than purchasing food or merchandise.
In the coming weeks, airport designers will prepare interior and exterior renderings as well as develop engineering plans. Most likely, the North Terminal will open in late 2008 in time for the busy holiday season, said Lester Robinson, CEO of Detroit Metro Airport.
"We want to bring as much natural light as possible into the concourse and give people a good view of the aircraft," Hartman said. "In the lower level, we'll make it as inviting as possible with plenty of light and visual elements."
The airport is hoping the North Terminal will be as well received by fliers as the 3-year-old, $1.2 billion Midfield Terminal, also referred to as the McNamara Terminal, which serves Northwest Airlines and its affiliates.
In addition to 97 gates and direct access to a Westin hotel, the Midfield terminal features four Northwest WorldClubs, more than 80 shops and restaurants, 18 luggage carousels and a tram that travels the mile-long Concourse A.
At the very least, the North Terminal will be a welcome change for many fliers who now use the aged Smith Terminal. On a visit today, some seats were torn and frayed. One seat was missing a back rest and was marked by yellow caution tape.
But some travelers said they favored the tight quarters of the Smith Terminal because it offers a short walk to gates and is less confusing than Midfield Terminal. Midfield opened in 2002 and replaced the now-closed Davey Terminal.
Some travelers expressed concern that the North Terminal will resemble the Midfield Terminal, which forces passengers to haul their luggage between floors, at times, when departing or arriving.
"That is the most inconvenient thing I can think of," said Val MacLeish of Howell, who was traveling with her husband to Florida. "If you have a baby in a stroller, or more than one bag -- or my husband hunts, so he has his rifle case -- and a suitcase and a carry-on, it's really inconvenient."
The North Terminal designers said it was difficult to keep all airport services on one floor given the limited amount of land to build the new facility.
You can reach R.J. King at (313) 222-2504 or rjking@detnews.com.
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