Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration appointed Transystems Corp. Sept. 21 to begin designing the consolidated rental facility (conrac) at the O’Hare Airport. The contract makes up $7.1 million of the total $393 million gross estimate to build the five-level garage that will include car rental spaces and public parking, as well as a people mover system, according to Tammy Chase, deputy commissioner of communications at the Chicago Department of Aviation.
When the facility was debated and ultimately approved last year on June 9, the city council agreed on an $8 daily rental fee to help offset the costs of the conrac. The fee has been implemented since then, and some worry that this will rise now that the design work is underway.
According to Chase though, a fee increase at this time is only speculation. “Depending on what the cost looks like, the fee could go up, but we’re not planning on that at this point,” Chase says. The aviation department, she adds, expects Transystems to present the city with a design in nine months or less.