MONTEREY >> Mike La Pier said “I like to push dirt. I like to make things happen,” and on Friday, he and others will be officially breaking ground for the new Monterey Regional Airport replacement terminal, while also marking the last day of his tenure as the airport’s executive director after 10 years of service.

La Pier said seeing the beginnings of the new terminal makes him feel “good, really good.” It was one of the mandates the Monterey Peninsula Airport Board of Directors gave him when he was first hired and “we delivered it.”

The ceremonial groundbreaking for the Monterey Regional Airport’s replacement passenger terminal, a Federal Aviation Administration-required project to enhance safety at the airport, is scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m.

La Pier said he is proud of his staff. From planning to organizational preparation, it took everybody to do it.

“We weren’t in the best of financial health when I arrived and knowing we were going to face a huge project like a terminal building, you had to do some things to make the organization ready,” he said.

Since that time, the Monterey airport’s reserves grew from about $2.8 million to about $15 million today. La Pier said it is “a huge lift for an airport of this size to do what we’ve done, and it took a lot of folks to get it there.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said years ago that it would like for safety issues at the airport to be addressed. The “standards problem,” which included the existing terminal apron’s proximity to the runway, gave rise to the approximately $190 million Safety Enhancement Program, a multiphase transformation that includes a replacement passenger terminal and an adjacent aircraft parking apron, among other changes.

When talking about a multi-million dollar program at an airport of Monterey’s size, the FAA was less than confident that it could ever be done.

The challenge was financial, not physical.

“We fund ourselves, we’re totally independent financially, and an airport this size that generates the kind of revenues that we do, I don’t think they felt we were really capable of doing that, but they really wanted to see that standards change so they funded the master plan,” said La Pier.

The FAA is expected to fund between 60-65% of the new terminal building, and fund about $100 million of the $190 million for the entire Safety Enhancement Program.

The Monterey Regional Airport demonstrated its financial acumen by growing its reserves, which was a precursor to seeing the replacement terminal building’s inevitable construction.

“When it’s done, it will be the largest capital project this airport has ever seen,” said La Pier. “I feel really good about how we were able to position the organization and prepare ourselves for what’s going to be a helluva project.”

The rest of the funding for the terminal building will partly come from the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act which is a program from the Department of Transportation which offers a low-interest loans at about 2% interest to fund a good portion of the balance. The airport will then issue bonds, and beyond that, revenues it generates from airport property.

Those airport revenues are generated from parking, fees and charges it imposes on the airlines, passenger facility charges, and rents at the airport.

“Cumulatively, our budget is about $14 million a year, so that’s where those funds will come from,” said La Pier. “We spent the last couple of years preparing a balance sheet … for the debt service that we’ll take on.”

He said that so far the indicative discussions the airport has had with a rating agency have been very good, it would be investment grade.

“It’s time to throw some dirt,” said La Pier. “I’m over the moon to be able to see that first shovel enter the ground.”

The groundbreaking for the new replacement terminal is a high point for La Pier. He considers expanding air service to Dallas/Fort Worth, the return of the Denver route, the start of service to Seattle, and a strong showing to San Diego, as goals that were attained. Another high and a contributing factor to air service was the partnership forged in the last five to six years with the community, namely See Monterey and Visit Carmel

As with any long-term executive position, there were also low points, such as the route to Minneapolis not taking off as he hoped it would, significant delays in the planning and approval process for the master plan and terminal, and the service to Chicago that has not yet materialized. He also had a rough patch with the board at one point.

“That was probably one of the more difficult times I’ve had in my career,” said La Pier. “I’m happy we finally worked it out, but it was a low period, a very low period.”

Looking back on his time at the Monterey airport, La Pier said he would do some things differently such as changing the way air service development was handled. He said the relationship with See Monterey and Visit Carmel that has brought new service should have begun sooner.

“We tried to do it on our own and that didn’t work,” he said. “So I would’ve done that differently in hindsight. I would have started developing that relationship a lot sooner. Now that it’s there, it’s successful. I think that’s a big one.”

But La Pier said he is leaving the airport in a better financial position than when he first started.

“It’s in an exceedingly good position now. I’m very proud of that,” he said. “I can hand over the keys and say, you used to drive a Chevy Vega, and now you probably got a BMW.”

After the fanfare of the groundbreaking on Friday, by midnight of that day, La Pier will no longer be under the employment of the Monterey Peninsula Airport District.

He said he has a passion for the Monterey airport and it will be hard to walk away from that, but he is ready.

“I hope everybody on my staff is excited and proud of what they’ve accomplished because it’s been huge,” said La Pier.

He says there is some trepidation about retiring but he and his wife have begun to refer to it as “starting over” and refers to the Chris Stapleton song of the same name. “It’s time for us to try something new.”

La Pier said he would like to draw, become a better photographer, play golf, and spend time with the grandkids, but traveling with his wife will take top priority, after they get settled in their new home in Tucson.

Opening day for the terminal is estimated to happen Spring 2027.