Turner Construction served as the construction manager for JetBlue�s new Terminal 5, and the owner�s representative on a 1,500-space parking garage.

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With more than 100 years in its industry, Turner Construction Co. has established itself as a contractor that clients can rely on, Project Manager Curt Zegler says. “Turner has a very good track record of having repeat clients requesting our services time and time again,” he says.

Based in New York City, the general contractor operates a nationwide network of offices, as well as locations in 12 countries. However, “Our biggest attribute is our staff,” Zegler says. He notes that its employees’ commitment, teamwork, and integrity have allowed the company to have a repeat business rate of 60 percent.

A customer that Turner is now serving again is JetBlue Airways. Turner is finishing work on the airline’s new Terminal 5 project at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York City. When completed, the new terminal will span 640,000 square feet and feature 26 gates, Zegler says.

The new terminal is one of the first in the nation to be fully designed and constructed after 9/11, JetBlue says. The project’s designer is Gensler, a San Francisco-based firm that has completed 50 separate passenger terminal projects, and the civil engineer is DMJM Harris/AECOM, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles.

“Terminal 5 is not just an airport terminal – it’s a people port,” JetBlue Vice President of Redevelopment and Project Lead Richard Smyth said in a statement. “It’s designed to provide operational efficiencies without sacrificing, and in fact, showcasing customer-friendly qualities. It’s the bricks and mortar manifestation of JetBlue’s award-winning customer experience and friendly service.”

A New Model
JetBlue says Terminal 5 will be a new model of travel with its self-service options and security areas. For example, “Forty ticket counters and 65 e-ticket kiosks are evenly distributed on both sides of the check-in lobby,” the company says.

“In the center of the departures hall, a 20-lane security checkpoint – the largest single checkpoint in the country – eliminates bottlenecks and features efficient, customer-friendly details, such as self-selected lanes for families, casual travelers and expert jetters,” the company continues. “Soft rubber flooring and a 225-foot-long bench to ‘re-vest’ after passing through security is available, making the quick trip through security pleasantly unique.”

The JetBlue Terminal is located behind the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport, which was designed by Eero Saarinen, Zegler says. He explains the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey is rehabilitating the classic structure so passengers can walk through TWA Terminal 5 to JetBlue Terminal 5. “It will be a grand lobby for JetBlue,” states Zegler.

According to JetBlue CEO Dave Barger, the TWA Terminal is known as “an icon of aviation history” in its home city. “As New York’s hometown airline, we are proud to literally connect the new Terminal 5 to our shared aviation architectural history in Saarinen’s TWA flight center,” he added. “Our new home will bring the best of the JetBlue experience from the air to the ground.

“More customers pass through JFK travel on JetBlue than any other airline, which is quite an achievement, since the airline launched just over eight years ago,” he said. “We will now be able to offer our customers amenities, comfort and an experience befitting a top-rated customer service company.”

An Experienced Builder
For Turner, working in an airport is not a new experience. Instead, “Turner has a long-standing history of working in the airport industry,” Zegler says. He explains that the company’s aviation experience dates back to World War II, when it built naval air bases throughout the Pacific.

“Since then, Turner has managed large and complex construction projects at the nation’s busiest airports,” he says. Zegler notes that the company has worked in airports in many major cities, including Miami, Chicago, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and New York City. Recently, the company finished a maintenance hangar for JetBlue at JFK Airport.

On this project, “We are the construction manager at-risk for the terminal, the associated roadways, and all the site civil work,” he says. The company also is the owner’s representative on a 1,500-space parking garage.

Although Turner worked closely with security at JFK Airport, the process of building a new, unused terminal provided it with few constraints. “As long as we stayed within our fence line of airside operations, we had very little impact with security issues,” he says.

However, “If anything would have happened, we would have had to close down and that would have hurt productivity,” Zegler asserts. “We worked closely and constantly with Port Authority security and TSA to accommodate and correct security measures.”

In addition, the project found Turner implementing new security measures that it did have experience with from post-9/11 retrofits at various terminals, but this installation includes 10 in-line explosion detection machines for baggage, Zegler says.

“From curb and ticket counter till the time it hits the plane, the bag will go through close scrutiny,” he says.
Ballerina Acts
A challenge in building the new terminal was the location, Zegler says. “JFK is located [in] basically marshland,” he says, noting that the groundwater table on the site ranged from four to eight feet deep.

The project is 72 acres with existing hydrant fuel system that required removal of trapped fuel and pipe remediation, along with surrounding soil remediation, which was contaminated by leaks in the existing system over the years.  

“As soon as we started excavating, we ran into a lot of groundwater that was feed from Jamaica Bay,” he says, noting that the project needed to implement a filtration plant for dewatering operations that pumped 500 gallons per minute. The system was required for 20 months and during the periods of heavy rain was required to run 24/7.

“Once we were able to get out of the ground, a lot of our headaches were over on that end, but the rest was just beginning,” he says, quoting Turner’s General Superintendent, Claude Wuytack, the company found it to be “a calculated ballerina act” to build both the terminal and site utilities at the same time. “We just couldn’t build the structure and complete the site utilities that feed the new terminal and aircraft later,” Zegler says.  

Daily detours and steel plating were required to keep the flow of the project at the speed required for the 34-month schedule. “We needed to keep the civil contractors productive and at the same time be able to keep ‘feeding’ the building contractors with concrete trucks, cranes and materials required to maintain the structure schedule,” Zegler says.  

In addition to the building systems being coordinated to fit tight ceiling spaces, the baggage handling system was “mission critical” for JetBlue and Turner.         The baggage system was designed to accommodate the latest technologies of “photocell-eyes” so the passenger’s luggage always makes it to the right tug bay, therefore to the correct plane and latest TSA security measures with the in-line explosion detection machines for aviation safety. “The building was designed around the functionality of the baggage system and therefore had top priority of all team members involved,” Zegler states.

The Terminal 5 project was designed for the traveler; large open ticket hall, wide open concourses, large security check point, WiFi for internet connection, large market place to sit and eat while waiting to depart. “User friendly and simple to navigate,” states Zegler.

Getting Ready
On Sept. 22, JetBlue celebrated the new Terminal 5 at an event attended by elected officials, business partners and representatives from the Port Authority. Senator Chuck Schumer called the event a “historic day for all of New York.

“JetBlue has brought a national landmark back to life and put it at the epicenter of air transportation here in New York and for the entire world,” he said. “Terminal 5 will give New Yorkers the state-of-the-art air travel hub we need and deserve. I am grateful to JetBlue, who has, in word and in deed, followed through on its commitment to New York, and to ensuring that all New Yorkers, upstate and down, have low-cost travel options.”

JetBlue will start operating flights from Terminal 5 on Oct. 22. However, as of early October, JetBlue concessionaires are still putting their finishing touches on the concession areas. The terminal will have 22 food and beverage locations and 25 retail outlets with a 55,0000-square foot dining and shopping marketplace.