U.S. Customs and Border Protection to Get New Home at Tucson International Airport
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will move to a new, higher profile, location at Tucson International Airport (TUS) under a lease agreement approved Wednesday (March 4) by the Tucson Airport Authority Board of Directors.
The plan includes a $1.8 million renovation of the former Tucson Executive Terminal, 7081 S. Plumer Ave., at the base of the now-decommissioned air traffic control tower. The facility has largely been unused since controllers moved to the new Federal Aviation Administration tower on the west side of the airfield in September 2016.
Among the benefits of the new CBP location is its better visibility for general aviation aircraft arriving at TUS, a designated U.S. Port of Entry airport. Since the mid-1980s Customs has been in what is now the former International Building, part of which has been converted for use as the C gates for commercial airlines and charter flights. Although general aviation aircraft are still processed in that location, the CBP moved its Federal Inspection Services for airlines into the main terminal in 2008.
“Not only is this a better use of TAA facilities and resources, it will give our arriving international customers a better and more welcoming impression of Tucson and our airport,” said Danette Bewley, TAA president and CEO. “Because TUS is a Port of Entry, it’s not uncommon for business leaders and other VIPs to land here to go through Customs, and our existing facility is outdated and not very inviting.”
Another benefit of the new location is that CBP offices will also move to the new facility, meaning people coming to the airport for Global Entry interviews should find it less congested than the current location, which requires parking in the airport terminal lot.
Mike Smejkal, TAA’s vice president of planning and engineering, says design work has been completed for the new facility and he expects that a construction contract can be awarded soon with construction beginning by the end of this month. Construction could take up to eight months and that the CBP could move by the end of this year.
In 2019, the CBP at TUS processed 2,017 aircraft arrivals – an average of 5.5 per day – with 8,207 passengers. The airport CBP also processed $1.1 billion in imported international merchandise and conducted 42,567 interviews for enrollment in Global Entry.
Under the terms of the lease, the TAA will pay for the renovation. Additionally, the CBP requires the space be provided at no cost for utilities, maintenance and repairs and rent-free, which is typical for leases by federal government agencies at airports. The initial term is one-year with 19 successive automatic one-year renewals at the option of the CBP, which can elect to terminate the lease with six months’ notice.
In recommending approval of the lease, TAA Vice President of Administration and Finance Dick Gruentzel said the “CBP’s operations bring substantial value to TAA, its tenants and all of southern Arizona.”
The TAA has not determined what will happen to the space being vacated by the CBP but Smejkal said there have been preliminary discussions that it could be renovated a number of different ways as needs develop.
