2021 Airport Business Project of the Year: Denver's New Centurion Lounge Delivers Mile-High Passenger Experience
Denver International Airport (DEN) is taking its traveler experience to new heights with the opening of the new American Express Centurion Lounge in December.
Located in the Concourse C Mezzanine, the facility is more than 14,000 square feet, making it the second-largest Centurion Lounge location to date.
“Our purpose is to offer exclusive, differentiated benefits that meet the needs of our global customers wherever their travels take them,” said Pablo Rivero, vice president of loyalty travel experiences & benefits at American Express. “When developing new locations, we focus on creating premium experiences for our Centurion Lounges that offer a mix of both signature and locally inspired amenities and design tailored to each lounge’s home city.”
The new location hosts a variety of locally inspired amenities, including American Express’ first-ever Craft Beer Bar, which will offer rotating selections of some of Colorado’s best local brews, a locally sourced Italian-inspired menu curated by award-winning Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, design features reminiscent of Denver’s neighboring Rocky Mountains, immersive game options and more.
Chef Lachlan developed a locally sourced menu inspired by his travels through Northern Italy, incorporating a variety of local and artisanal ingredients.
The Denver Centurion Lounge will be the first in the network to include a live-action cooking station, where card members can enjoy dishes prepared à la carte and even customize them to their personal preferences.
Guests can also enjoy a complimentary full bar with Colorado-inspired cocktails. The new lounge also has a game room with a variety of options, including pool and shuffleboard tables, as well as custom, large-scale classics such as Connect Four and Checkers. As part of The Centurion Lounge Commitment, games will be cleaned and sanitized after each use.
The new lounge has locally inspired design touches throughout the space, reminiscent of the natural environment and scenery throughout the city of Denver. This includes geometric ceiling installations that mimic the mountainous area, a mural of the Rocky Mountains, and a two-sided living wall visible from within the lounge and from the concourse below.
“When we design our Centurion Lounges, we look to provide our Card Members with a premium experience that provides a welcoming and inviting place to relax before or between their travels,” Rivero said. “We leverage learnings from other Centurion Lounge openings in the network, as well as monitor customer feedback to understand which experiences add the most value for our guests. We also work closely with local partners to build upon our signature offerings to create unique and new locally inspired amenities that bring to life each lounge’s home city.”
Swinerton was the General Contractor partner on the project providing construction project management, construction and subcontracted work to achieve a complete project.
Bradley Monson, project manager with Swinerton, said there were many challenging issues at the start of construction as the project design was still being finalized and obtaining approvals through the airport and city permit review processes. As a project partner, Swinerton worked with the team to obtain an at risk, limited notice to proceed from the airport and the city. This allowed the project to move forward with many construction activities while awaiting final design and permits.
“There were certainly challenges that the team had to address in and around the lounge location. The lounge is located on the mezzanine level, directly above operating concessionaires and airline gates,” he said. “The project work scope included more than 150 concrete floor penetrations through the existing floor slab to connect plumbing and electric to the floors below. This work was carefully coordinated with the surrounding tenants to be performed in the unoccupied hours and at times that would not impact operations.”
The coordination of the floor core locations was compounded by limited existing as-built information and the original plastic electric conduits located in the slab. Due to the thickness of the slab, Monson said the conduits could not be located by traditional methods and required meticulous concrete chipping to expose the conduits and avoid as many hits and interruptions of operations as possible.
Stakeholder engagement and success was achieved through constant communication with the project team including Swinerton, RCS Air Design, Interior Architects, SynEnergy and subcontract partners. This coordination occurred through weekly meetings, virtual site tours, and, as necessary, conference calls to address specific issues.
As one of the largest tenant spaces in the airport, Swinerton had to provide extensive MEP coordination for the utility systems to support the full-service kitchen, multiple bars, restrooms and other amenities.
Multiple reviews of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are necessary to address the client needs, DEN requirements and integration, as well as permit requirements. To maintain the schedule, it is imperative that the team keeps DEN abreast as the design progresses to align with the expectations, reduce review time and minimize design changes following review. We worked closely with DEN operational staff to coordinate access to existing tenant spaces and airline gates for material deliveries.
Monson said another challenge involved conflicts between the lounge design and the existing airport and concession tenant infrastructure. Coordination of these items were compounded by limited availability to make site visits due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“Ultimately, the project team determined that the most effective method to resolve these items was through live virtual site tours,” he said. “Through the available technology, these virtual site tours allowed all necessary stakeholders to view and provide live input on resolution to quickly address the issues.”
Rivero said they’ve received prominently positive feedback from card members since the opening of the Centurion Lounge at DEN with many noting our safety policies in the lounge, friendliness of the staff and myriad food options.
“One of the challenges of the pandemic was tracking against the ever-changing and unpredictable travel landscape. However, we are continuing to invest in growing and enhancing our Centurion Lounge network because we know travel is, and will continue to be, core to our card members’ lifestyles,” he said. “In fact, travel bookings through American Express Travel increased over 50 percent from Q4 to Q1, and airline bookings jumped 19 percent in March compared to February, showing pent-up demand for travel is real and an increased confidence in a rebound of domestic consumer travel.”
