Design workshops for new terminal at Hollywood Burbank Airport come in for a landing
Hollywood Burbank Airport officials said they are feeling confident about moving onto the next steps of constructing a replacement terminal at the airfield.
The sixth and final design workshop, which officials have been calling charrettes, was held Saturday on the site where the replacement terminal is planned to be located — the northeast quadrant of Hollywood Burbank.
Part of the workshop’s goal was to gather additional comments from the public, but it was more to celebrate those who have been a part of the input process for the past eight months.
More than 60 people — including local residents and members of the aviation industry who have attended either a majority of the workshops or all of them — attended the gathering and were served a barbecue lunch.
Hollywood Burbank officials also announced during the event the branding name for the new terminal, which is Elevate BUR.
Bill McConnaughey, a lead customer-service agent for Alaska Airlines at Hollywood Burbank, was one of several attendees who attended all of the workshops.
He said it was an interesting experience hearing others’ thoughts about what the replacement terminal should look like and the amenities it should have.
He said that he and many others who participated in the charrettes firmly think the new terminal should retain the convenience and ease of access that the current facility offers.
“There’s going to have to be some balance,” McConnaughey said. “It might not be as similar to the current terminal, but there has to be an upgrade.”
McConnaughey, who has been working for Alaska Airlines at Hollywood Burbank since 2004, said he was proud to be a part of the discussion and involved in this portion of the design process rather than have others provide input for him.
“Like voting, if you don’t participate, you don’t really have a say,” he said.
Hollywood Burbank has been working to replace the current terminal for decades. However, the past four years have been the closest officials have gotten to seeing the project become a reality.
Plans call for a 355,000-square-foot, 14-gate terminal on an area known as the B-6 site, which is where Lockheed used to house its Skunk Works operations.
Airport officials are currently waiting for the Federal Aviation Administration to finish its review of an environmental impact statement of the project.
As they waited to hear back from the FAA, Hollywood Burbank officials hired consultant MIG Inc. to facilitate the design workshops.
Daniel Iacofano, chief executive of MIG Inc., said he was impressed with the overall turnout at each workshop.
He added that he is confident that they have more than enough input from the public to complete the final design guidelines, which are expected to be completed next month.
“I feel really good about this final draft product as a representation of what people have been saying all the way through,” Iacofano said.
Patrick Lammerding, deputy executive director of planning and development for Hollywood Burbank, said he’s looking forward to sharing information that has been gathered to prospective design teams once the final report has been completed.
On Wednesday, the airport will host an industry day for design-build firms at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport as a networking opportunity for architects, designers and construction companies to figure out how they would construct the new terminal under the given parameters and public input.
“It’s really important for them to start forming teams before we release our request for qualifications and proposals in 2020,” Lammerding said.
