Construction crews have pulled a building permit to add a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility at Holman Field, St. Paul’s downtown municipal airport.
Construction contractor Shaw Lundquist Associates was issued a building permit for the $15.6 million project at 670 Bayfield St. on Nov. 4. The land, currently empty, sits between two 3M hangars and the administrative building that houses the Holman’s Table restaurant and bar on the north end of the airport property.
The facility, spanning 4,800 square feet, will process 100 to 150 international flights per year, for a total of about 200 operational hours annually, according to a permit application on file with the city’s Department of Safety Inspections. Customs and Border Protection staff will travel from Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport to the facility for expected flight arrivals. Planning documents call for a LEED gold certified facility with a green roof.
In a written release last May concerning airport runway and construction projects statewide, the Metropolitan Airports Commission announced it was set to begin construction later in the year on a stand-alone U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in St. Paul “that will improve processing of international passengers and cargo.”
Jeff Lea, a spokesperson for the MAC, said Wednesday that the downtown St. Paul airport receives dozens of chartered international corporate flights, and the new general aviation facility will replace “an extremely small existing CBP location” currently located within the administration building.
In July, Finance and Commerce reported that the MAC had opened five construction bids, each of which came in above the estimated $12.24 million project cost.
Construction, which will be funded with federal and state grants and General Airport Revenue bonds, is expected to include pre-processing and post-processing waiting rooms, a passenger processing area, office space, utility rooms and restrooms.
The building will feature cast-in-place concrete, mass timber columns and beams, a structural wood ceiling and roof, and a 1,000 square foot intensive green roof system. Other sustainability features include geothermal heat pumps, air handlers and solar panels.
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“The building is designed to produce more energy than it uses,” Lea said.
The project also will include new utility connections, new sidewalks, native plantings, decorative metal fencing and additional landscape improvements.
The downtown airport, one of the state’s busiest airports for business aviation, closed its primary runway from June 2 through early August for pavement reconstruction and other airfield safety improvements. The mile-long section modifications included improved lighting and surface drainage in pavement first installed in the 1980s. The runway is the longest general aviation runway in MAC’s airport reliever system.
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