Pinellas airport, with record passenger count, to build four-story garage

An abundance of new flights and ongoing renovations to its facilities brought more passengers to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE) in 2025 than ever before, officials say. 

But the increase in passengers has created what Pinellas County administrator Barry Burton calls a “parking crisis” at the airport, prompting the county commission to unanimously approve a $3.1 million contract to build new parking facilities during its Dec. 16 meeting. 

The county commission, which oversees the airport, approved a contract with Apopka-based Finfrock Construction to build a 2,000-space parking garage and a 300-space surface lot that will increase parking volume by 30%. That’s in addition to the $60 million PIE has set aside to address the parking problem — roughly one-third of the airport’s reserves. 

Interim PIE Director Mark Sprague said in the meeting that the design phase of the project will begin this month and take until the end of the year to be completed. Then, after a one-year construction phase, the airport’s first parking garage should be open to the public in late 2027. 

Travelers have been flocking to PIE in record-breaking numbers all year, the airport says, with a total 2,794,067 passengers passing through its terminals in 2025. That’s a 14% increase in passengers over 2024’s numbers, the airport says. The previous year-long record for passengers was 2.49 million in 2023, records show. 

The increase in passengers comes hand-in-hand with a significant boost in the number of flights at PIE — 60 more by the end of 2025 than the year before, and even more on the horizon. 

Budget airline Allegiant, which counts PIE as a major hub, announced Friday that new service to Atlantic City, New Jersey will begin in February and flights to Huntsville, Alabama will start in March. 

For now, though, passengers will have to continue battling over the 3,260 available parking spaces at the airport. Once construction is completed, a four-story parking garage will replace the airport’s 76-spot “Strawberry PIE” parking lot — one of two economy parking lots that regularly reach capacity, Sprague says. PIE will also offer additional shuttle routes to reduce wait times for passengers. 

Other renovation projects slated to begin this year include a new $15.4 million taxiway, which is expected to significantly increase the airport’s revenue, and a terminal expansion project that could cost up to $220 million.