NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — It supposedly will take a little more than three minutes to walk from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport’s security checkpoint to the far end of the terminal expansion, but the distractions will be too frequent to plow through without a few stops.
“We are about to get to where we can see how it feels,” said airport Director Kelly Johnson, who took The Guru on a tour of the 54,192-square-foot expansion that should be in service by Sept. 1. “We’re getting a sense of it, and I think it will be quieter than the other place.”
The current XNA has critics, including a Broadway actor who’s such a big deal that The Guru’s never heard of him. (The truth hurts, Andrew Varela.) He posted a Twitter message last month saying about XNA, “a big garage lookslike Costco.”
The $21 million expansion is sweet. Airline passengers can see the first changes just past the security checkpoint as food and beverage provider Air Host has left the building, and Paradies Shops took over Tuesday. Paradies Shops will operate the new restaurants and shops.
The Guru previously told readers that Paradies would put in a Samuel Adams Brewhouse, but that’s changed.
State law forbids business names associated with booze in Benton County and all other dry counties.
Dumb law, isn’t it? So the pub-style restaurant instead will be called Ozark Grill.
Its opening affects O’Loughlin’s, the airport’s bar. The lease for O’Louglin’s expires in May, and owner Kim Maguire of Fayetteville is curious how her business will fare.
“If the airport will let us stay, we’ll stay,” Maguire said. “I know it’s time for the airport to expand, and they may need bigger people than us small-town folks.”
A sandwich shop called Boar’s Head Express opens in two weeks in the space held by the gift shop, and the gift shop shifts to a temporary kiosk until CNBC News Cafe and Arkansas Traveler MarketPlace can be put up.
The state’s only moving sidewalk will speed passengers toward a wide area that Johnson said will be “a slow-down place.” It’ll have modern rocking chairs, plants and other things.
“It’ll be sort of a park,” Johnson said.
Beyond that is the long, 20-foot-wide, domed hallway with rich, tan-colored walls that will allow passengers to walk from one gate to the next.
The Guru doesn’t know diddly about style or interior decorating, but it looks like the brown, blue and gray pile carpet near the gates matches the brown and blue polished concrete floor found in other new areas.
Gray-colored Herman Miller chairs like those used at Chicago O’Hare will be put near the gates. Those chairs received the most positive comments from XNA passengers who were allowed to check out several gate-seating options a couple of weeks ago.
The expansion will have four cubicle areas where folks can plug in and use laptop computers (and wi-fi will remain free).
Now, could someone please send a note to explain what Costco is? Never heard of it, either.
Robert J. Smith’s column about people on the move appears on Monday. He can be reached at [email protected].
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 06/06/2011