FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.
One thing is certain: before the new $791 million runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is built and opened for business, the Airport Hilton will have to go.
The gold-colored high-rise juts into a zone that aviation officials say must be kept clear of potential hazards to aircraft. Government land purchases can be thorny and take longer than expected, though, and the Hilton problem is yet another one the county has to be resolve before the runway, in the works for decades, can open.
Talked about for years, the county's purchase and demolition of the 400-room Hilton, and those of another property next door also deemed a potential risk to arriving and departing planes, must begin soon. Design and engineering work for the new runway is under way, and construction is scheduled to begin next month.
The 8,000-foot-long airstrip is scheduled to open in September 2014, but that will be impossible if the hotel and the boat warehouse to the west haven't been razed.
