Miami, Chicago top airports for investment

   Miami, Chicago and Memphis are home to airports offering the best investment and leasing potential, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s U.S. Airport Real Estate Index.
   Chicago and Miami, in particular, are rated well due to their status as international passenger gateways, and Memphis finished third on the list due to FedEx’s hub presence at the airport.
   The index also focused on facilities that have efficient perishable operations, because these goods offer significant growth potential, trade with growing regions, and are close to population centers.
   “Fuel costs are high, and total air cargo growth is stagnant, but there are regions that offer strong investment opportunity,” Jones Lang LaSalle’s John Carver said in a statement.
   The rest of the airport cities, ranked in order, are Los Angeles, Newark, New York (JFK), Indianapolis, Atlanta, Dallas-Forth Worth, Louisville, Anchorage and Oakland. JLL pointed out that Dallas-Forth Worth was the only top finisher with status both as a top passenger hub and an important cargo airport. Officials at JFK recently released an air cargo report that, among other things, emphasized the relocation of off-airport services onto airport property, freeing up outside land for new investment.
   According to the recently released Airport Capital Development Needs report, published by Airports Council International North America, airports in the continent will need a total of $14.3 billion in annual development investment between 2013 and 2017. More than half of that money will help accommodate passenger and cargo growth, with the rest reserved for repairs of aging infrastructure.
   In 2011, ACI-NA predicted airports would need 11 percent more investment between 2011 and 2015. Analysts blamed the recession, airline consolidations, general capacity reductions and postponed airport projects on the reduction in investment needed. – Jon Ross