February 1, 2017

$550M Sea-Tac project starts Friday

Images courtesy of Port of Seattle [enlarge]

The North Satellite modernization will add eight new gates, and more retail and dining space.

[enlarge]

The Port of Seattle and Alaska Airlines are breaking ground Friday on the $549.9 million North Satellite modernization at Sea-Tac Airport.

Eight new gates will be added — for a total of 20 — and the satellite will be extended 240 feet to the west, with another 181,000 square feet.

The reworked terminal will have new gates, an upper-level mezzanine, twice as much dining and retail space, and a rooftop lounge for Alaska Airlines with views of the Olympic Mountains and downtown Seattle.

Alaska Airlines, the sole carrier in the terminal, will spend $36.8 million to finish the 13,000-square-foot Board Room lounge and employee spaces. It operates a temporary 3,000-square-foot lounge in the satellite that will close when the replacement opens.

The transit system lobby will be refreshed and new escalators to trains will be installed.

The 45-year-old building will also get seismic and sustainability upgrades, including a living wall and a rainwater collection system that will feed into toilets most of the year.

The entire venue will have natural light and views of the airfield and mountains.

Work will be done in two phases, with the first phase covering the new space and the second remodeling the old space. Phase one will be finished in mid-2019, then the second phase will start. All work will be finished in spring 2021.

Hensel Phelps is GC/CM for both phases. URS is the architect of record and Fentress Architects is the design architect.

The port spent another $20 million to refurbish the North Satellite baggage system in 2015. It will eventually connect to a centralized baggage system at the main terminal. Work on that $320 million project will start later this year and finish in 2023.