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Midway Airport On Tap For $248 Million Expansion Project

By Ed Komenda | August 6, 2015 9:16am | Updated on August 6, 2015 2:20pm

MIDWAY — Midway International Airport is on tap for a $248 million expansion project, and city officials  are calling it the largest investment at the South Side airport in nearly a decade.

The project will expand parking, concessions and security checkpoints in an improvement campaign that will create 1,700 jobs and address concerns raised by business travelers and tourists for years, according to the mayor's office.

"It's a complete modernization of Midway," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a Thursday morning press conference. "The City of Chicago will continue to be the city with two world class airports and this modernization will help us achieve that."

Here’s a look at the highlights of the plan, detailed by Emanuel:

• An expansion of the 60-foot-wide pedestrian bridge over Cicero Avenue to 300 feet.

• 20,000 square feet of new concessions — a 50 percent increase — and renovations for all current stores and restaurants. Shopping, dining, lounge facilities, a spa and medical services will be added.

• A new 80,000-square-foot security hall featuring 27 security lines, a 40 percent increase.

• A four-level addition to Midway's terminal parking garage, adding 1,400 spaces.

"Our proposal will make Midway Airport more competitive and friendly for years to come,” Chicago Department of Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans said. “In order for our airports to remain competitive they must be efficient and that’s what this plan will achieve."

To begin the project, the city will issue a request for proposals in September to find a company to run the airport’s concessions. Companies will then be able to bid on the job.

The city hopes to field those bids in December and bring them before City Council by the second quarter of 2016.

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