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http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...with-new-delay
BY DANIEL GEIGER
JULY 18, 2014
LaGuardia terminal makeover hit with new delay

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey is expected to put off until September its selection of a winning bidder for the $3.6 billion redevelopment of the airport's antiquated main terminal.

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has alerted the three bidders competing for the $3.6 billion redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport's main terminal building that it is pushing back its pick of a winner until September, sources say.
According to people familiar with the bidding process, which began over a year ago, the Port Authority had been expected to pick a winning bidder for the massive project at its board meeting in Manhattan on July 23.
Sources say that part of the delay is not only to give the Port Authority additional time to evaluate the bids, but to weigh what work needs be done to the rest of the airport—a facility which has been widely maligned as hopelessly antiquated and run down. As a result, in addition to announcing its choice of a developer for the main terminal in September the Port Authority is now expected to release a request for proposals from the private firms on how to refurbish and improve the rest of the airport which opened 75 years ago.
The delay is not the first for the main-terminal project, one of the largest upcoming infrastructure projects in the city. In a preliminary timeframe for the project, the Port Authority expected to actually be underway with the project's construction by this month, a deadline that was subsequently pushed back.
A spokesman for the Port Authority said that previously the agency had only specified that it would pick a winning bidder by the end of the third quarter of this year.
"This is a major project for the next half century. There must be time to wisely consider it and a few months are hardly relevant. also there are directors who came aboard since the airport plan was created, including a new chairman who was just confirmed last week," said Kenneth Lipper, a former Wall Street executive who was appointed to the Port last year by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "I hope that the next review, is not the last one either; from experience I can tell you that a large capital plan such as the Port Authority's is a living document."
Over time the scope of the terminal building redevelopment has shifted, sources say. Initially, a private sector group was to rebuild the main terminal, which will include retail space and aircraft gates, and the Port Authority was to deliver key surrounding infrastructure such as parking garages and roadways. The three final bidders are all now all taking on the responsibility for delivering the roadway and garage work in addition to the terminal.
The main terminal building's redevelopment has been looked at as an important project not only for its sheer size but because of its innovative structure. By soliciting private sector partners, the Port Authority is trying to adopt a new public-private partnership model for major infrastructure development. In such so-called P3 projects, the bi-state agency will hand off the risks of construction budget overruns to the private sector, which will fund much of the work in return for a portion of the revenue stream from terminal operations for years to come. But the process has had some hitches. In March, a fourth finalist, called Aerostar New York Holdings, was disqualified for allegedly viewing the competing bids.