Business torrents

One of the St. Louis region’s highest-profile roof leaks is about to be plugged.

Leaders at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport said the roof covering the three busiest Main Terminal concourses — A, B and C — will be replaced at a cost of about $2 million in the first half of 2010.

"We’ve reached a threshold where we can’t do any more Band-Aids," said Lambert spokesman Jeff Lea.

For years, heavy rainfall has forced the airport to deploy plastic buckets throughout the airport to catch the dripping water. Not only is it a potential safety issue, Lea said, but it "doesn’t present a good image." The roof repairs aren’t part of the multimillion-dollar makeover of the Main Terminal, known as the Airport Experience, which began in summer 2008. Lea said it was just time to fix the long-standing problem. The project will be funded through the sale of bonds, which, Lea said, also will fund the Airport Experience projects.

Under the Experience project, the airport has replaced baggage carousels and resurfaced the dingy-white dome ceiling above the ticketing area. Soon, Lambert visitors will be greeted with easier-to-follow signs to guide them to parking lots, terminals and other key locations.

However, the roof repair project involves replacing the roof over three passenger concourses with a new rubber membrane, Lea said. It was pushed to the top of the list of needed airport projects, he added, because the leaking roof "has become a critical problem." The last time the roof was replaced was 1990.

On rainy days, travelers have grown accustomed to sidestepping buckets in the long Lambert corridors.

"I have traveled significantly in Third World countries. I have seen a lot worse than leaking roofs," said Claudius Docekal of Creve Coeur, a businessman who has flown out of Lambert numerous times. "But is that the right image for the United States? No."

Lea said the airport already has made repairs to the domed roof over the Main Terminal ticket counters.

Business community leaders have been especially vocal about the perception of Lambert — from the appearance of its concourses to the proliferation of smaller regional jets in recent years.

"The business community cares mightily about Lambert as an economic development asset, and we certainly support the work that is under way right now to upgrade the facilities," said Richard Fleming, president and CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association. "For many of the people who come here from out of town, (the airport) is their first introduction to St. Louis."

In 2003, Fleming’s group along with the Regional Business Council and Civic Progress assembled a task force of business leaders to preserve the airport’s role as a regional economic engine.

The task force was created in response to American Airlines’ first major round of flight reductions at Lambert.

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