After years of “construction fatigue,” Denver International Airport’s Great Hall Program to reinvent the welcome area of the airport under the iconic white tents has reached its final phase.

The program, which has gone into the “completion” phase aiming for a 2027 finish date, is a re-design that will make travel more efficient as the airport sees more-and-more traffic, DIA CEO Phil Washington said Tuesday.

It will include improved spaces for arriving passengers, with a 60-foot crystal Cottonwood tree sculpture to act as a meeting place, other public art, new flooring and amenities and a variety of other improvements, Washington said.

“We know that there is some construction fatigue from passengers,” Washington said. “It’s like remodeling your house while you’re still living in it. That’s kind of what we’re doing with this airport.”

DIA saw record passenger traffic last year, he said, with 82.3 million people moving through security in 2024, a 6% increase from 2023.

The airport was designed to accommodate 50 million annual passengers. Several years ago, airport officials created a vision to make the airport ready and able to accommodate 100 million passengers, which they expect it will reach by 2032. 

“We’re going to hit it much sooner than that, which is really playing into our sense of urgency to make sure that we build enough where this airport can accommodate that many,” Washington said at a news conference at the airport.

The idea of the Great Hall, which is currently the site of two security checkpoints under the airport’s iconic white tents, is to welcome travelers with a “Colorado-centric vibe” and make traveling through the airport more efficient, he said. 

The renovation includes three main areas on level five.

The first, the Global Gateway at the north end of level five, will be for international arrivals. The area will see eight new security lanes for international travelers connecting through DIA, he said.

Global Gateway will “create a warm welcome” to Denver with a public art display telling the story of Native Americans in the Colorado region, according to Washington.

The second area, Welcome Home Colorado located at the center of level five, is where domestic travelers arrive from the gate trains. There will be plenty of seating and a flight information board as well as a centralized information booth, Washington said. It will be “spacious and bright” with various food and gift vendors. 

Finally, the Living Room at the south end of level five, where south security is currently located, will house four security lanes, seating and dining, a food court, a bar and a 60-foot-tall Cottonwood tree sculpture, Washington said. 

The sculpture, called “The Stars and the Cottonwood” created by artist Donald Lipski, was inspired by the area’s native cottonwood trees that “historically signified water, food and shelter” to people traveling west, according to an airport news release. 

It will be made of more than 30,000 Swarovski crystals and is part of the city’s 1% for public art ordinance, which directs 1% of any capital improvement project over $1 million undertaken by the city be set aside for the inclusion of art, according to the release.

Underneath the tree, live music and other performances will take place, Washington said, and the tree will act as a meeting space for people. 

“This will be the place where people say ‘meet me by the tree’ in terms of our iconic landmark here in the terminal,” Washington said.

The entire Great Hall project has happened in three phases, the final of which has now begun.

The first phase was completed in October 2021, according to FlyDenver’s website. It renovated the center portion of Jeppesen Terminal on levels five and six to create new check-in space for United, Southwest and Frontier airlines. 

Phase two was completed in February 2024, adding the first of two new security checkpoints on level six, widened the balcony about 40 feet and added a new escalator taking passengers from security to the trains.

The completion phase includes building the east security checkpoint on level six, extending the balcony 40 feet to match the west side, renovating the airline check-in facilities on the south end, creating the Global Gateway, Welcome Home Colorado and the Living Room, and constructing a Center for Equity and Excellence in Aviation.

The east security checkpoint will be completed by August of this year, adding 17 new screening lanes, Washington said.

At the end of the project, the airport will have 46 security lanes — making for shorter wait times.

The improvements are creating 6,500 direct jobs, 500 indirect jobs, 1,300 induced jobs and about 54,000 apprenticeship hours, according to the website. 

The completion phase of the project was planned to cost about $1.3 billion, but the project will be under budget, Washington said, although he could not specify how much under budget. 

Funding sources include charges for the airlines the airport uses, concession revenue, parking revenue and rental car fees as well as federal dollars. 

Other ongoing projects include a future runway — which is in the pre-environmental phase — extending the C West concourse, improving Peña Boulevard, expanding the north terminal, replacing all of the trains that go to the gates, and building a consolidated rental car facility. 

“We have always thanked the traveling public and our employees, too, for enduring this long period of construction, but we’re getting towards the end of it,” Washington said. “Travelers will be saying ‘what a fantastic airport.’ They’ll be saying ‘the iconic nature of the Cottonwood tree is the best meeting place in the entire country.’ They’ll be saying ‘what a great job we’ve done in making this Colorado-centric’.”

And when it comes to Blucifer, he’s here to stay, Washington said of the red-eyed, rearing blue stallion statue.

“Blucifer is going to stay out there as long as I’m here,” he said. “I don’t want to be cursed.”