Everything makes sense but the price tag.
$1.2 billion?
The Detroit midfield terminal was built from scratch with full parking facilities and world class transportation system for that price -- not to mention tunneling in the middle of the airfield.
I'd chalk it to inflation but this sounds like a patchwork replacement of the satellites and some parking structures that will be "more like Terminal C" which was built in the 70s than Terminal E from just a few years ago. Not a full fledged international hub facility.
Terminal E got built ground up for a fourth the price.
Good to be a contractor in Houston soon.