McCarran International Airport's Rent-A-Car facility, now under construction, is eight months behind schedule with a revised completion date of Nov. 1. Officials, however, openly wonder if the project can be finished this year, according to the Las Vegas Business Press.

PCL Construction Services, the project's general contractor, faces $10,000-a-day in penalties if it misses the November deadline. One project official blamed subcontractor problems with scheduling, pricing and manpower, the Las Vegas Business Press reports.

In November 2003, PCL won the Rent-A-Car job with a bid $4 million less than the next closest competitor, leaving some officials feeling uneasy, considering the company’s history. PCL built the 1.3-million-square-foot Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall expansion, which finished with $10 million in claims and a lawsuit.

Yet despite delays, the $123.3 million undertaking remains on budget, with less than 3 percent in change orders.

The Rent-A-Car center will contain a three-level, 6,000-space garage and a two-story, 131,000-square-foot customer service building with 10 car rental companies. The 79.2-acre complex will have fuel and service islands as well as maintenance facilities. There will be a total of 125 pumps with 150,000 gallons of gasoline available in underground tanks.

Rental car companies signed a 10-year lease with the airport two years ago to occupy the new facility, initially scheduled to open Feb. 23. There will be an additional $3 service charge on each car rental transaction to go toward the center's operating expenses, which include operating 60 buses that shuttle passengers between the airport and the new facility.

McCarran is financing construction from its operating reserves. It expects to receive about $20 million annually from car rental revenues.