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Charlotte Douglas International Airport is seeking to rezone 100 acres of land off Wilkinson Boulevard for a rental car maintenance facility, officials said Tuesday.
The plans are the latest expansion for the airport, which has already announced nearly $1 billion worth of projects for the next several years. The city of Charlotte owns much of the land, which is bounded by Barry Drive, Shoreline Drive and Marshall Drive, sandwiched between Wilkinson Boulevard and Interstate 85.
That’s across Wilkinson from the airport. Construction on the $15 million project is expected to begin soon, airport officials said.
The land is currently zoned primarily for residential, although the neighborhood that was there is gone.
Situated behind an adult video store and a bar where a woman was murdered in 2009, the three streets are vacant. Some are blocked off with concrete barriers, while others are marked with empty lots where houses once stood. Airplanes taking off from Charlotte Douglas roar overhead, sometimes two at a time.
The airport recently announced it will begin construction on a $160 million fifth parallel runway as soon as 2014. Charlotte Douglas is also building a $160 million new parking deck for rental cars.
Aviation director Jerry Orr has said the current rental car facility will be demolished and the airport will build a new, freestanding international terminal on that location, just north of Concourse A.
That facility, with estimated costs of $175 million, will be built when there is demand, Orr has said. Last month, he said he plans to immediately build a small part of the new satellite concourse, with four gates for domestic flights by Southwest, Delta and United.
