SAVOY — Willard Airport is celebrating the culmination of a project that broke ground last year and has been in the works for over four years.

The airport held a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday for its new rental car wash. Executive Director Tim Bannon said a couple of “finishing touches” are going in, and he expects car rental companies will be able to start using the wash by the end of the week.

“It’s been over four years of planning,” he said. “We went over the pandemic there, and it caused some uncertainty with the financial forecasting of the facility and rental car operations. So we’re just really thrilled to move forward, open this facility, have more efficient rental car operations and be able to serve our customers even better then we already have been.”

Airport officials said the project, which relocated the rental car wash facility closer to the terminal, will provide “faster turnaround of returned vehicles for customers.”

The new climate-controlled facility will also be operational all year round, unlike the previous outdoor car wash.

“The airport funded the project,” Bannon said. “The total’s $2.17 million, and it is funded through customer facility charges. … So the operation of renting cars funds the project.”

Willard is served by two car rental companies, airport officials said. These are Avis Budget Group and Enterprise Mobility, which includes Enterprise, Alamo and National.

“As the rental car hub of Champaign County, over 14,000 vehicles are rented annually from Willard Airport,” airport officials said. “On any given day, over 130 cars originating from Willard Airport are on rent and circulating in and out of the community.”

Construction of the new car wash began in mid-2023. The project architect was Reifsteck Wakefield Fanning & Company, and construction contractors included Broeren Russo Builders Inc., X-Treme Mechanical Inc., Reliable Plumbing and Heating Company, and Remco Electric.