Airport Experience® News -Customer Service Issue 2026

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Left, Below: Willie Jewell’s BBQ is among the local brands in the new food hall. Local brands are balanced by a selection of national brands, including Panda Express.

A Shared Effort A construction program of this scale touches nearly every department at the airport, and VanLoh sees that reach as a source of pride among staff rather than a burden. “Whether we are giving hard hat tours to media and elected officials, procuring materials, paying vendors, selecting concessions, deciding on gate seating or commissioning permanent artwork, everyone has a role to play,” he says. “I think that gives them a small piece of ownership toward one of the largest construction projects currently underway in the city of Jacksonville.” That ownership extends to the ceremonial moments that have marked the program’s progress, from the groundbreaking on Concourse B to a topping-out ceremony this past October, when contractors set the final beam with a pine tree lashed to the top in a nod to the Scandinavian tradition believed to bring luck to a building. VanLoh has called the milestone a long time coming, with the project delayed multiple times since 2008. Designing for Place Behind VanLoh’s vision sits a design team led by RS&H and Jacobs , working alongside the JAA to translate their direction into a physical terminal. Steven

Papke, senior aviation architect at RS&H, and Chris Bowker, aviation manager at Jacobs, point to regional identity as the throughline behind every major decision. “JAX Beyond began with the JAA’s clear conviction that a modernized Jacksonville International Airport should feel unmistakably like Northeast Florida,” Papke and Bowker say. “One of the best examples is the jewel-like colored terrazzo throughout the terminal, which reflects the waterways that define Jacksonville.” That sense of place converges at the Grand Hall, a central gathering and concessions space developed with lead designer Tat Chan of VIA Concepts . “This central gathering

and concessions space becomes the new heart of the terminal, connecting all three concourses and creating a dramatic sense of arrival the instant travelers clear security,” Papke and Bowker say, pointing also to the terminal’s electrochromic glazing, which fills the space with natural light while managing heat gain and opening westward views of the airfield. For VanLoh, the finished product will speak for itself once the garage opens this fall and Concourse B follows in December. What started as a plan for more gate space grew into a full reset of how JAX moves passengers through the building, from the curb to the gate.

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AX NEWS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2026