It looks like the $8 fee slapped last year on the cost of renting a car at O’Hare International Airport may be headed even higher.Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration has hired a consultant to design a new economy parking structure at Parking Lot F at Mannheim and Zemke roads. The five-level garage would accommodate rental cars and public parking.
The $7.1 million contract calls for Transystems Corp. to draft plans and a cost estimate for the garage, which would have access to an existing Metra station and “a new station for an extended” people-mover system.
Last year, the city council approved the $8 surcharge to the cost of renting a car at O’Hare to bankroll a $393 million facility that will consolidate rental car companies into a central location to make way for new runways.
At the time, city officials described the $8 “customer facility charge” as a starting point and said the fee would increase if the people-mover system were extended to the new rental-car center.
Now, it appears that decision has been made. That paves the way for a higher fee that could approach the $18 per transaction imposed on rental car customers in Los Angeles.
The $138 million people-mover system opened in 1993 to ease roadway congestion at O’Hare. It has a capacity of 2,400 passengers an hour and includes five stations and 2.7 miles of double guideway connecting three domestic terminals, an international terminal and remote parking lots.
Also Wednesday, the Emanuel administration moved to get proposals for about 17,000 square feet of food and beverage concessions at Midway Airport — including a 5,846-square-foot food court in Concourse A that would have a “wine bar” and 11 expiring leases at the existing Midway Concessions Triangle.
Together, the space put out to bid is expected to generate $25 million in annual sales and $3 million in revenue.
