Consolidated Rental Car Facility (ConRAC) at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

Newark Liberty International Airport’s new ConRAC is a 2.7-million-square-foot, $580 million state-of-the-art joint-use public parking and consolidated rental car facility.

The new facility aligns with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Terminal A Redevelopment, providing walkable access via pedestrian bridge to the new 33-gate terminal, with connections to other terminals via AirTrain, increasing efficiency and convenience for travelers. The airport’s carbon footprint is also reduced by collocating public parking (2,703 spaces) and all on-airport rental car companies (3,000 spaces) into one facility, thus reducing roadway and terminal curb traffic and congestion and substantially improving Airport land use.

The facility consists of two six-level structures: a Public Parking and Ready/Return Garage with a customer service area for rental car transactions and public restrooms; and a Quick Turn-Around Area Garage for fueling (54 positions), washing (15 car wash bays), processing (vacuuming/waste management), and storage of rental car fleets. The development is powered by a 5-megawatt (MW) solar rooftop and is further enhanced with a vehicular helix precast bas-relief mural, “Newark and Beyond,” depicting EWR as a destination transportation hub.

The overall facility is designed to comply with the Port Authority Sustainable Building Guidelines and to meet LEED Silver requirements (LEED v4 for Building Design & Construction (BD+C)). The public parking levels (floors 4-6) feature more than 150 electric vehicle chargers and the flexibility to offer electric vehicle chargers on the rental car levels in the future. 

The project was developed with the Tenant Development Approach (TDA), a project delivery method for ConRAC development, financing, and operation. TDA is a form of public-private partnership where the project company fully assumes development risk and responsibility for the long-term financial performance of the project. Conrac Solutions Capital led project funding, including private debt and equity financing, which allowed for a pre-programmed customer facility charge amount, so construction continued uninterrupted when rental car transactions dropped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Features Include:

1. 2.7-million-square-foot new joint-use facility
2. Two, six-level structures: public parking and ready/return garage and a QTA garage
3. 5-MW solar rooftop