What you need to know:
• The Weitz Company faces roughly $6 million in potential liquidated damages as of mid-April 2026, rising toward $7.4 million if work finishes June 22, 2026 as projected
• The rental car lobby at MCO Terminal C is more than 12 months past its June 15, 2025 contractual deadline
• GOAA issued a formal notice of potential liquidated damages at $20,000 per calendar day; a dispute resolution board has reviewed the case and GOAA has not disclosed its decision
• GOAA has paid Weitz approximately $100.9 million — 89% of the contract — with the lobby still unfinished
• The only formal time extension GOAA has granted Weitz across 18 change orders is four calendar days
The contractor building the rental car lobby at Orlando International Airport’s Terminal C missed its June 2025 deadline and faces up to $7.4 million in potential penalties, with completion not expected until late June 2026.
The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority has issued a formal liquidated damages notice to The Weitz Company; the contract specifies $20,000 per calendar day in potential fines, starting from the date the project fell overdue. A dispute resolution board has reviewed the case, but GOAA has not disclosed what the board recommended or whether it plans to collect, negotiate, or waive the penalties. If GOAA waives the penalties, the authority would forgo up to $7.4 million it is contractually entitled to collect — money that would otherwise flow into a revenue pool funded in part by rental car customer surcharges.
GOAA and Weitz did not respond to questions from the Orlando Monitor before publication.
What the records show
GOAA’s construction report, presented to the authority’s board at its April 15 meeting, documents the gap plainly.
“Currently, there is no anticipated change order to adjust the contract time, and the contractor has been given notice of potential liquidated damages for the project,” the report states. “The recommendations of the dispute resolution board (DRB) are being reviewed by GOAA.”
As of that board meeting, approximately 304 days had elapsed since the June 15, 2025 contractual deadline, putting potential penalties at roughly $6.08 million. If Weitz completes the work by its self-stated June 22, 2026 target — 372 days past the deadline — the total would reach approximately $7.44 million.
The $113.3 million design-build contract, awarded to the Des Moines, Iowa-based company in June 2023, has consumed 144.6% of its original 686-day timeline with the lobby still unfinished. GOAA has paid Weitz approximately $100.9 million, about 89% of the current contract value.
Across 18 change orders since work began, GOAA has formally extended Weitz’s deadline by a total of four calendar days. A $100,000 dispute resolution board allowance is listed as an open item in the contract documents, confirming the DRB process was built into the contract from the start.
In January 2026, GOAA issued a change order removing a moving walkway from the project’s scope for a deductive credit of $898,329. The contract documents confirm it involved a moving walkway — identified as “Schedule E” — but do not specify which of the project’s planned walkways was cut.
How the project got here
Terminal C opened in September 2022, but the pedestrian bridge connecting it to the multimodal train station — and the adjacent rental car lobby — were removed from the terminal’s original design as a COVID-era cost-saving measure. Federal infrastructure funding later allowed GOAA to restore both.
The bridge’s pedestrian walkways — roughly 90 feet in length, air-conditioned, and equipped with moving walkways — opened in October 2025. The rental car lobby, which will house customer service counters and connect directly to the bridge, is still under construction. Once it opens, the walkways will be extended to their full designed length.
Early warning signs
Trouble surfaced before the deadline passed. In May 2025, a Weitz subcontractor wrote to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings describing the situation as “a source of serious concern for the local business community” and estimating that at least 12 local subcontractors were owed roughly $10 million for work going back to October 2024.
GOAA escalated. In June 2025, then-SVP Capital Programs Max Marble sent Weitz a formal written notice warning of potential contract termination and citing violations of Florida’s Local Government Prompt Payment Act for failing to pay those subcontractors.
Marble left GOAA by September 2025 and joined engineering firm RS&H in January 2026. Weitz’s marketing director said in June 2025 that the company was “actively meeting with both the airport and subcontractors to work toward resolution.” The company’s own website described the rental car lobby as being in its “final stages, expected Spring 2026” — a target it has since passed without completing the work.
What’s next
The April 15 construction report describes the lobby as in its finish-out phase, with flooring, ceiling grid installation, restrooms, fire sprinklers, lighting, and mechanical trim work underway. Weitz has set June 22, 2026 as its anticipated completion date.
GOAA said at its April meeting that it is reviewing the dispute board’s recommendations but has not disclosed a timeline for a decision.