Demolishing old air terminal? Just don’t kill workers in the basement

Tearing down the old terminal at Wichita Eisenhower National Airport will be a daunting task, especially since people will be working in the basement while the building is demolished above them, airport officials said.

“We call it a ‘surgical demolition’ because it’s so complex,” said Wichita airport director Victor White. “We’ve got to carefully do it so it doesn’t cave in on the basement below and the people who are working there.”

Eventually, all of the old terminal that’s above ground – except for a small office space at the west end of the building – will be removed.

Then, there still must be a ground-level roof built to protect the electronics and other equipment that will remain in the basement, White said.

With luck, the project will be done by the end of the year or early next year, White said.

The airport has already demolished the wings housing the aircraft gates at the old terminal. That area is now a part of the tarmac used for parking planes.

The interior of the old terminal looks like something from a post-apocalyptic science-fiction movie, strewn with boxes, wire, fallen ceiling tiles and other flotsam.

All that was left behind when the usable equipment and furniture were torn out and either auctioned off or transplanted to the gleaming $200 million glass-and-steel terminal built next door in 2015.

But while planes and passengers use the new terminal, the beating heart of the airport remains underneath the old one.

That’s where you’ll find the data center, the electrical distribution system, the telephone system, vehicle repair and storage and some of the administrative offices.

The old basement, linked to the new terminal by tunnels, also serves as the emergency tornado shelter for the airport’s workers and passengers.

“All of these very sensitive current operations need to be protected (during) demolition,” said Deputy City Attorney Jay Hinkel. “This isn’t simply knock the building down and pick up the pieces.”

One of the few valuable things that hasn’t already been moved out of the old terminal is “Magic Flight,” a massive metal abstract sculpture on a more-massive granite base.

The sculpture still sits in the middle of the old terminal’s concourse, where it greeted visitors from 1990 until the terminal closed around it.

Airport officials had hoped to move the sculpture to the new terminal shortly after it opened two years ago.

But they decided the best course to move it without damaging it would be to wait until the roof is partially off and the sculpture can be hoisted out with a crane, White said.

On Tuesday, at Hinkel’s request, the City Council voted to change the city charter and create a new bidding process, called “construction manager at risk project delivery,” specifically to address the complexity of the airport job.

It would allow the Airport Authority to hire a design firm and a demolition/construction firm at the same time. They would then work together to come up with a way to complete the project and set a guaranteed maximum price for the work.

The cost and plan would then require approval from the City Council, which also acts as the Airport Authority Board.

It’s an advantage because the contractor that will be doing the job will be involved throughout the planning process and will be able to tell the project designers what will and won’t work in practice, officials said.

Construction manager at risk has never been used by a Kansas county or city and isn’t one of the methods state law allows for them to build projects, Hinkel said.

However, the Legislature approved it for schools in 2008, and Hinkel said the city can use its own charter authority to do it without asking for a change in state law.

But because it is a charter ordinance, it will add more than two months to the process of tearing down the terminal, White said.

The authority won’t actually be able to hire the designer and contractor until the end of a 60-day period for residents to file petitions to put the new ordinance to a public vote, White said. He said he’s not expecting any public challenges of that type.

This story was originally published March 22, 2017 at 9:03 AM with the headline "Demolishing old air terminal? Just don’t kill workers in the basement."