Edit

Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Groundbreaking of $9.5 Billion New Terminal One in a Major Step Forward for Port Authority's JFK Transformation

Government and Politics

September 8, 2022

From: New York Governor Kathy Hochul

2.4 Million Square Foot International Terminal Will Be Built in Phases on Sites of Current T1, T2, and Former T3

Arrivals and Departures Hall and First New Gates Will Go Live in 2026

The New Terminal One Will Be the Largest Terminal at JFK International Airport and Represents an Integral Part of the $18 Billion Transformation Project Now Well Underway

Private Partners Will Provide Financing To Cover Full Cost of Terminal; Port Authority To Build Supporting Road and Utility Infrastructure

State of the Art Technology, Best Sustainability Practices, Public Art, Iconic Local Concessions and Revamped Roadways Will Create a World-Class Passenger Experience

Project Will Create More Than 10,000 Total Jobs Including 6,000 Union Construction Jobs

Includes 30 Percent MWBE Goal for Contracts and Financing Interests; Extensive Opportunities for Local Businesses and Jobseekers Guided by Community Advisory Council

Renderings for New Terminal One Available

Governor Hochul: "We're doing it better, because right now you go through a place like Penn Station and the former LaGuardia and the former airports, you just wanted to look down. You shuffled along, you know, just kind of in the masses. You didn't have any reason to feel optimistic, to put a smile on your face. Now, when you come through our airports, you see beautiful artwork that lifts the spirit, lifts the soul. You see the light coming in from the heavens. It is a transformative, positive, very human experience that has been long denied because people before us didn't have the vision that we have today."

Hochul: "This is what this city and this state deserve. So mark my words: This project will be worthy of the name, not just New York, but also the name of President John F. Kennedy... after a pandemic filled with too much despair, here in New York, we are acting. And we're accepting the responsibility for our future by literally building a brighter one with projects like this for our state."

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul celebrated a key milestone in the Port Authority's transformation of John F. Kennedy International Airport with the groundbreaking for a $9.5 billion, privately financed New Terminal One. The start of construction follows a revised agreement late last year between the Port Authority and the New Terminal One - a consortium of financial sponsors - to build the 2.4 million square foot, state of the art new international terminal that will anchor the south side of John F. Kennedy International Airport and create 10,000 jobs, including 6,000 jobs in construction.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format, AUDIO of the event is available, PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page. Click Here

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

What a quintessential, spectacular New York day! Are we feeling the love? This is spectacular. I am so delighted to be here to launch an endeavor that many thought had been given up for dead, except today it's all about new life and I'm so excited to be here with extraordinary leaders who would not give up on the boldness of a project like this.

I want to thank Rick Cotton. I'll be introducing him in a minute. He is the genius and the person behind so many of the transformative projects that are legacy-making, that years from now you will say, how did people come out of the pandemic, and will say, we built with leaders like Rick Cotton. I want to thank him for what he does.

Congressman Gregory Meeks, who in his responsibility of the Foreign Relations Committee travels the world. I have a feeling he's spent more time in this airport than just about anybody. So this is all about you, Greg, to make sure you have a good experience as you travel the world on behalf of our country. Congressman Greg Meeks, a great friend, a champion for Queens.

Donovan Richards, who makes references to the fact that I always come here with lots and lots of money for his borough. Don't tell all the other boroughs, okay? Just keep that between us. Always proud to work with you. A great champion.

Gerrard Bushell, Executive Director of New Terminal One Group, congratulations! This is extraordinary. Let's get this done. Rafael del Pino, another leader. We've seen him in many other projects, Chairman for Ferrovial, and I want to thank him for his work with Terminal One, as well.

Also, I mentioned building things - nothing gets built of consequence in this entire state without Gary LaBarbera and his incredible men and women of labor, making sure the shovels are in the ground and we do spectacular projects. To the entire Board of Leadership at the Port Authority, it's been a long journey as well and I thank all of you for your commitment.

Also, there's someone who's just kind of just fun to have here, adds a little bit of star power. I know this is New York City. It's hard to find somebody who's going to impress everybody. We're New York and everybody comes here, but we're going to have Magic Johnson here as well. How about the star power of that?

I kind of caught you off-guard that he was going to be here today, kind of a no look pass over there.

I grew up with a bunch of brothers and it was all about basketball, it was all about Magic, and although, and I shouldn't say this - I had a little playground basketball the other day with the Mayor of New York. You can look at social media and see how that one went, okay? I'm just too diplomatic to say anything.

Magic, this is a chance to celebrate what you've done with your star power, how you've harnessed that to transform lives and to invest in projects and parts of our cities where people had not gone before. And I thank you for that. And I only wish that others would follow your leadership. What a different country we'd live in if others used that power they have, the celebrity they have because of their incredible success as an athlete, and to do that, to do good for other people. So, I honor you for your lifetime of support since you left the court and what you've done for our nation. So, thank you, Magic Johnson. And I'll just say Larry Bird never came to a place like this and built an airport. Where's Larry? I don't see him. Yeah, nice. I don't see Larry. I got to stop.

And I know everyone at JFK's tired of seeing me because I'm always here. There is so much going on here and I know every single person. I feel like I know them personally, especially my years as Lieutenant Governor when this was my commute. You know, I live in Buffalo and this was my commute - go back and forth, almost on a daily basis. And so, I honor the people who work at this, the people who showed up during a pandemic to make sure that people could be served. Never forget the restaurant workers, the maintenance workers, the baggage handlers, airline workers, they showed up. And a lot of people were just zooming into life. And so, we honor them every single day and they literally kept this city and this state moving. So, when I think about bold plans for our state and for our nation, I think about them as well because today is just proof that when people pull together, they can rise up in a powerful, powerful way.

So, this is a big day for New York, long time and coming, and there's been a lot of stops and starts with this project. Don't need to go through all the bad history. Some people here in the front room might have PTSD from that. I won't bring back those images, but there are so many delays and moments when it just felt like it just wouldn't happen. And when the pandemic hit, you know, it halted air travel. I mean, what was the future of air travel two years ago?  No one could have imagined what it would take to start saying no, but we think it's going to be better. We're going to get through this. And that's what vision's all about. It seemed like an impossibility, but my administration likes to make the impossible possible. And that's what we've worked on it to achieve in the first year in office. And when I took office, there was a lot of uncertainty around this project, Rick and I sat in our office and we talked about it and I said, what other, some of the big projects that have been held up because of the pandemic.  What else has to happen?  I said give me something that is truly, truly bold and transformative because I want to send a message around the nation that this is New York. We may have been hardest hit by this pandemic, but we're going to rise up the furthest.  And big projects, put a stamp on them and say, yes, we can do anything.

So, we dream big. We dream big with this project. So, this is the project that got done we're here today to officially announce plans to build, move this further since we met in December, when I first announced the plans to move this forward. I said, let's make this a world-class hub, many of us travel. This is New York for God's sakes. We should always have the best in everything. It's not asking a lot, is it? This is New York. This is our brand. It's that swagger that we've always had. We've got that back. We've never lost that. But we need a world-class hub to welcome people from around the world and let them know who we are. This is our identity. So today, we're here to announce that we are finally after years of delay breaking ground on phase one of Terminal One. That's extraordinary. It's serving a number of international airlines. And also this phase one of course, my first question is, how long is that going to take? And someone said 2030. I said, I don't know. I'm the same age as Magic Johnson. I'm not sure I'm going to be alive by then, okay. I let me check my watch here. How long is 2030?

So, we've got to get this done. And so we are going to have phase one completed by 2026. That's more reasonable. I can see 2026 down the road and we'll have 14 new gates. So in 2026, it'll be spectacular. We'll all be done by 2030. I hope we're not all done. I hope the project's all done by 2030, so in four years, travelers are going to see a whole new experience here.

And when it's complete, it's going to be spectacular. It's going to be spectacular. Rick and I were just chatting that this can be among the greatest terminals in the world. I said, well, among let's make sure we are the greatest. And this will be the largest free standing terminal, not just here, but in the nation. You know? So we are dreaming big: 2.4 million square feet with 23 gates. That is bold. That is ambitious. It's going to be beautiful. Naturally lit, state-of-the-art amenities.

So, even if you're flying economy, you're going to have a first-class experience. And this is a best part for me. It's a $9.5 billion project. My favorite words, 100 percent privately funded. How about that? And Gary, this one's for you: 10,000 jobs, 6,000 in construction. It's going to be made by the most talented workforce known to man and womankind. And that includes 30 percent MWBE because that is our commitment to lifting people up. Thirty percent, right here. You heard it. So, let's get it done.

I also want to thank Congressman Meeks and Borough President Richards for leading the JFK Redevelopment Council. This is a powerful group that speaks for the people who sometimes feel that, you know, big projects come and go and they haven't been paid attention to. Yet they're the ones who planted the flag here. They're the ones who live here. This is their home, and we have to respect them and to hear their needs. And you are the vehicles for that. And I thank you for your leadership in that role as well. So thank you. And everyone knows I share a belief with all of you that we need to keep focusing on our airports, especially JFK here. It already serves more international airports than any airport in the country. That's already our name, but we're going to even do more.

And I'm going to continue talking about what we're doing elsewhere on this, on these grounds, $18 billion plan, $18 billion to transform JFK. It includes almost 4 billion for our Terminal 6, $1.5 billion Terminal 4, $425 million for expansion of Terminal 8. And that's on top of what we're doing at LaGuardia. If you've been to LaGuardia lately? Maybe if you're JFK fans, you don't go there, but it's extraordinary. It is amazing. People walk through there and their jaw drops. I mean people want to look up again.

It's kind of where I'm at with Penn Station, sorry to smack on Penn Station again, I was just there. Well, we're doing it better, because right now you go through a place like Penn Station and the former LaGuardia and the former airports, you just wanted to look down. You shuffled along, you know, just kind of in the masses. You didn't have any reason to feel optimistic, to put a smile on your face. Now, when you come through our airports, you see beautiful artwork that lifts the spirit, lifts the soul. You see the light coming in from the heavens. It is a transformative, positive, very human experience that has been long denied because people before us didn't have the vision that we have today.

That's what excites me so much, and that is why we think about this project and rebuilding JFK overall. This is what this city and this state deserve. So mark my words: This project will be worthy of the name, not just New York, but also the name of President John F. Kennedy. To paraphrase him, he once said, "Let us not despair, but act - let us accept our responsibility for the future."

And after a pandemic filled with too much despair, here in New York, we are acting. And we're accepting the responsibility for our future by literally building a brighter one with projects like this for our state. So, I thank all of you. I thank you for your participation. We are open for business.

This is New York and because this is people's first impression, I know their first impression is going to be wow. Wow, this is extraordinary. So, I want to thank everyone. Welcome the leader who's making this happen. That is our own, Rick Cotton. Thank you very much.