A Turner Construction joint venture has landed a $700 million airport project in Memphis, Tennessee, that will modernize and update the terminal to current seismic codes.
The JV, dubbed the TAC Team, will comprise New York City-based Turner alongside Chicago-headquartered Ardmore-Roderick and Memphis’ own Chris Woods Construction.
The multi-year program, which will build on an updated concourse that opened in 2022 during the first phase of the improvements, will modernize the main terminal, enhance seismic resilience, expand parking systems and upgrade other amenities.
The TAC Team began demolishing the old Concourse A at the facility last month, according to a July 30 news release from Turner.
In the meantime, TAC crews are also making headway on filling a transit tunnel that runs underneath the airport to meet modern seismic standards. That job will employ cellular concrete, a lightweight flowable material made by mixing cement, water and preformed foam air bubbles to create a lightweight, porous structure, according to the airport’s project page. Work is slated to be completed on the job this month.
Work is also continuing on a new commercial ground transportation lane, which will enable construction on the airport’s outer commercial drive replacement, a two-year job to expand and reinforce the departures-level curb, according to the release.
These early phases will enable infrastructure required to complete the modernization of the overall facility, including:
- Expanded baggage and ticketing areas for improved flow.
- A relocated, larger Transportation Security Administration screening checkpoint.
- New escalator and stair placement to ease wayfinding.
- Preservation of MEM’s mid-century architecture.
The project also includes a new administration building and checked baggage inspection system on the lower level, which is now in the design phase, according to the release. Construction on this structure is slated to begin this fall, after the Concourse A demolition concludes.
The project is another, multi-hundred-million feather in Turner’s cap. The firm, which is the largest contractor in the country by revenue, announced earlier this month that it had reached a record backlog of over $39 billion in the first half of 2025.
The complete modernization project at Memphis International is slated to conclude by 2030.
