The $125 million McCarran Airport rental-car center at Gillespie Street and Warm Springs Road was supposed to open last June. But a wet spring muddied the site and delayed construction; in addition, subcontractor and supply problems and change orders have impeded the original schedule.
The latest opening date is now Nov. 1, 2006, in time to handle the crush of holiday crowds. PCL Construction Services, the project's general contractor, faces penalties of $10,000 a day if it doesn't finish the building by that date. Even so, completion of the project by then seems doubtful, considering how far construction is behind schedule. It could take till early next year to open the facility.
The complex will consist of a two-story 131,000-square-foot customer-service building that houses 10 rental-car companies able to handle 10,000 transactions a day, greatly relieving human and vehicle congestion at McCarran (estimates place the vehicle savings at six million trips to the airport annually). The massive three-level parking garage has space for 6,000 vehicles. The 125-pump gasoline facility will reportedly be the largest gas station west of the Mississippi. Forty 15-passenger buses will shuttle rental-car customers along the 2.3-mile trip between the complex and the airport, taking an estimated five minutes.
The rental-car counters at the airport will be replaced with additional baggage carousels.
