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As Raleigh-Durham International Airport carries out a $2.5 billion expansion, it has run out of office space for its own employees, some of whom now work in temporary modular buildings in the parking lot of the Airport Authority’s headquarters.
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Now RDU is considering buying a two-story office building off airport property to help house its growing staff.
If the Airport Authority board approves the deal on Thursday, RDU would pay $8.9 million for RDU Center II, a 61,500-square-foot building at the end of RDU Center Drive, off Aviation Parkway. The 26-year-old building is owned by a Texas-based real estate company that acquired it four years ago, according to county records.
The county lists the tax value of the property at just under $8.7 million.
The entire second floor, about 31,500 square feet, is vacant and available for airport staff, according to a memo shared with Airport Authority board members this month. The first floor is occupied by six tenants with varying leases, and the airport could gradually expand its use of the building as those leases expire, according to the memo.
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“Acquiring the building would support a phased occupancy strategy, reduce reliance on temporary and dispersed office space, preserve flexibility for future growth, and provide the Authority with long-term control of a strategic real estate asset,” according to the memo, written by Kenny Perry, RDU’s vice president of project management and strategy, and David Freedman, the chief financial officer.
RDU has beefed up its staff to plan and oversee several construction projects that began a few years ago and will continue into the next decade. They include tripling of the size of its largest remote parking lot, building a new main runway and expanding Terminal 2 to create more space for ticketing counters, baggage carousels, security checkpoints and facilities to handle arriving international passengers.
RDU has also begun a multi-year effort to widen and reconfigure John Brantley Boulevard, the road that loops between the passenger terminals.
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