The Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (VPS) is moving toward building a multi-level parking garage that would add 1,500 to 2,000 spaces at an estimated cost of $50 million to $75 million, with the airport expecting to pay about 85% of the cost from its own funds.
Airports Director Tracy Stage presented the plan to the Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners as an informational item during the board’s Nov. 3 meeting, as no funding was requested.
- “It’s going to change the front door of your community, and we’re excited about it, and we have the money,” Stage told commissioners.
The garage would be built on existing airport property at Lot A and would affect 700 to 1,000 parking spaces currently in that location, Stage said. A rendering shows a multi-level parking garage, though Stage said the design is “totally conceptual” and the garage would not go higher than the existing terminal.
The garage is part of the airport’s master plan and is included in the FAA conditionally approved Airport Layout Plan drawing set, according to the agenda request. Stage said the airport has been circulating the concept in a video since roughly 2019.
Parking demand
The airport has about 2,800 spaces in its three revenue lots, A, B and C, which serve passengers, customers and the airport’s growing Turo line of business, Stage said. Another 722 non-revenue spaces are set aside for employees and for ride-share operations including Uber and Lyft. The airport has more than 1,000 badged employees and a couple of hundred unbadged employees, according to Stage.
Passenger numbers at VPS have grown 250% since 2014, and airline seat capacity has grown 258% over the same period, according to Stage’s presentation. Stage said airlines have brought in larger aircraft, and that travelers come from as far away as Mobile and Tallahassee.
- “You’re going to have folks driving from as far away as those locations and three hours in any direction to catch a flight out of VPS, and it happens all day long, every day,” he said.
Stage acknowledged he had been hesitant about building a garage. He said changes in the industry, including self-driving cars and vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, had raised the question of whether one would ever be needed.
“Parking garages, they’re expensive, and it’s been something that I did not want to ever get into,” Stage said.
Stage’s presentation included eight recent airport garage projects, ranging from a 418-space garage and intermodal center at Gainesville Regional Airport that cost $13 million to a 1,704-space garage at Chicago O’Hare’s Terminal 5 that cost $191 million. Stage said the one closest to the VPS plan is at Boise Airport, where public and employee garages that opened in 2023 and 2024 added approximately 1,850 spaces at a reported cost of $60 million. He said many of the other projects included additional development, such as a rental car center.
Paying for it
Stage said the airport has planned for years to pay for the garage without going into debt. The airport has $46 million in unrestricted cash and investments and another $26 million in restricted cash and investments, such as passenger facility charges and customer facility charges, he said. The airport has been debt-free since 2016.
According to Stage, the airport has completed upwards of $90 million in capacity projects with no repayment obligations, including a $28 million baggage handling project, expansions on both ends of the terminal at roughly $20 million each, Concourse C and the West Apron expansion.
- “We have saved a lot of money for this day,” Stage said.
Staff is proposing to deliver the garage through a public-private partnership using a design-build-finance-operate-maintain model, known as DBFOM. Under the plan outlined in a white paper prepared by airport staff, County Attorney Lynn Hoshihara and the airport’s outside aviation counsel, the airport would commit baseline funding of up to approximately 85% of the total cost, and a private development partner would contribute the rest.
The airport would identify its funding commitment once the design reaches 90% and the project engineer provides a construction cost estimate, according to the white paper. The final commitment would be set when actual construction costs are verified.
After construction, the partner would operate and maintain the garage for an agreed-upon term. The white paper says the partner would receive a baseline amortized return to recover its investment, along with an agreed percentage of net revenues.
The airport would keep ownership of the garage and retain the right to audit its finances and to set and approve parking rates, according to the documents. A summary prepared for the board states the facility would revert fully to airport control at the end of the operating term at no additional cost.
Stage said the project is in its early stages and there are no hard numbers yet. He said the white paper and board summary had not been shared with the public before the meeting, to protect the integrity of the process.
Next steps
Staff plans to issue a Request for Qualifications to identify potential development partners, according to the agenda request. Stage said the airport would use the county’s procurement selection committee.
The white paper lists expected evaluation criteria including financial capacity, experience developing and operating commercial service airport parking facilities, ability to integrate with the airport’s existing parking revenue control systems and a demonstrated ability to work on public-private projects. Staff would then return to the board with recommendations.
When Chairman Trey Goodwin asked whether he was seeking board direction, Stage said the presentation was strictly informational and that any proposed agreements and final commitments would come back to the board for approval.
“We’ve always been 100% transparent. We’re proud of this. I think the community obviously is very proud of it, and it’s needed. We’re there. The cars didn’t start flying fast enough for us. We need a garage,” Stage said.
Commissioners react
Commissioner Sherri Cox credited Stage and his staff for completing projects with no debt service, saying “that doesn’t happen without solid financial stewardship.” She also noted that staff had been overhauling the county’s transit system while working on the garage plan.
- “As somebody that grew up here … you always hope for your destination to get a parking garage,” Cox said. “That means that our families, our loved ones are wanting to come and see us, right? They’re wanting to be here.”
Commissioner Drew Palmer called the garage “an incredible opportunity for us to continue to enhance what we offer” and pointed to the airport’s ability to pay for it without having to dip into a general fund.
“That speaks volumes for how you run this organization,” Palmer said.
Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel, who joined by phone, said the garage has been a long-held goal of Stage and the aviation board.
“I know that our community will benefit tremendously by it because parking is one of the number one issues we often hear about,” Ketchel said. “We’ve gone wide and long, and it’s nice to go up for a change.”
Goodwin called the garage a natural next step in the airport’s development and said it would likely benefit residents more than visitors.
“The parking garage will most likely serve more locals and military than it will our visitors because this will be people that are going there to go elsewhere and come back to get in their car when they come home,” Goodwin said. “And I’m all for projects that help our locals and our military partners.”
