Originally Posted by
RobS
The IX Center is MUCH bigger than the downtown convention center; it's profitable; it draws lots of out-of-town attendance; and nothing could replace it for the large industrial and consumer shows. I'm not sure that even a new air terminal could justify tearing it down.
I also think that that lot may have logistical concerns like proximity to the runway safety area and difficult to orient all of the required services without encroaching (e.g. gates, parking, terminal infrastructure, etc.) -- best bet would likely be to reconfigure D to a more usable floorplan (it always felt awkward / not enough seating/circulation even when it was only used for express -- and of course the turboprop fingers would need to be demolished and rebuilt anyway), build ticket counter space on the end of it then rebuild C (and possibly B depending on gate counts) pushing the ticket counter and baggage claim further into the current terminal area to allow more space for landside circulation -- and then likely demolish A.
This would allow some of the existing infrastructure to be repurposed and have minimal impact on supporting infrastructure (e.g. RTA red line, parking garage, approach roads, etc.) and likely substantially lower cost than a greenfield solution. Is the IX center even in the corporate limits of Cleveland or is it in Berea?
Alternatively "flipping" the airport and putting terminals where NASA/UPS is currently would make some sense -- but would probably irritate both NASA and UPS
