Picking Someone Up at the Des Moines Airport This Holiday Season? Plan Around the Garage

If you're the one meeting a flight at Des Moines International Airport over Thanksgiving, where will you wait, and where will you get something to eat?

For the past nine years, the easy answer was Berk & Chester's. The kitchen, bar and deli sat before security, so anyone could use it whether or not they had a boarding pass. It opened in September 2017 and was designed to feel like a cozy, nostalgic "grandma's place," with seating for families, business meetings and sports teams. It closed on October 16, the Des Moines Register reported, and the B&C Market & Deli, its grab-and-go counter, was inside the same space.

The closure fits a pattern. The old terminal is being emptied from the front before the new terminal is ready, and the front is where people who aren't flying spend their time. This is the old building's last holiday season, and its public side is already shrinking.

Why the front of the building is closing first

The closing was planned. The airport's CEO, Brian Mulcahy, explained the timing in an email to the Des Moines Register:

"The reason for these moves at this point is that we are preparing for the demolition of the terminal building (from ticket counters back to the escalators), which needs to begin as soon as we open the new terminal."

The part of the building between the ticket counters and the escalators is slated to come down, so the airport is clearing it now. The Register's coverage names no replacement for pre-security food in the current terminal. The one new shop it mentions, River & Grand by Hudson, belongs to the new terminal. If the airport's dining page still lists Berk & Chester's when you check it, that listing is out of date.

Past security, the old terminal still feeds you

Travelers with a boarding pass will find plenty to eat after security. According to the Register's rundown, these spots are still open past the checkpoint:

• Portermill, the airport's full-service restaurant and bar. It's built around a horseshoe-shaped bar with big windows for plane-watching, serves breakfast plates early, and pours a rotating lineup of 18 Iowa-made craft beers.
• Arugula & Rye, a quick-service deli next door to Portermill, with flatbread pizzas, custom salads, wraps and sandwiches like turkey and brie or a Cuban.
• Friedrichs Coffee, for espresso drinks and breakfast sandwiches.
• Coffee + Bar near Gate C-5, a smaller stop for espresso, bottled and canned beer, and light snacks.

That's why this season splits the airport in two. A traveler who gets through screening early can sit at Portermill with a breakfast plate. The person who dropped them off, or who's waiting on a delayed inbound flight, has no restaurant on their side of the checkpoint. The Register's advice for anyone meeting a flight is to eat before you leave home.

For the person waiting, the garage now does the most work

With fewer places to sit and eat before security, parking matters more than it used to, especially for pickups. The airport has three options that let you wait without pulling up to the curb.

EZ-PICKUP. Park in a marked stall in the garage and wait with your car for up to two hours free. After that, regular hourly rates apply. When the flight lands, text your arriving passenger the stall number and they walk to you. The airport added EZ-PICKUP when it opened the new garage section in July 2025, partly to cut down on curb congestion.

The Cell Phone Waiting Lot. This free lot south of the airport lets drivers wait for up to 60 minutes at a time. At the terminal, the curb is for active loading and unloading only, and unattended vehicles may be ticketed or towed.

Hourly garage. The first two hours are free.

The garage can handle the extra demand. The July 2025 expansion added more than 1,100 covered spaces and took garage capacity from 1,800 to more than 2,900. It also moved the garage entrance to the right side of Terminal Drive, which drivers who haven't flown since then may not expect.

If you're the one flying and leaving a car for the long weekend, here are the rates posted on the airport's parking page as of late October 2026:

Economy-lot shuttles run 24 hours a day. The airport puts typical waits at about 10 minutes for the Blue and Grey lots and about 15 minutes for Red, so leave yourself that time when you pick a lot. The parking page also shows live space counts, which change through the day, so check it the morning you leave.

A simple plan for Thanksgiving week

Here's a plan for Thanksgiving week built from the airport's own guidance:

1. Eat before you leave the house if you're dropping off or picking up. Right now nothing before security serves food.
2. Arrive 90 minutes to two hours before departure. That's the airport's standing recommendation. The TSA checkpoint opens at 3:45 a.m. and stays open through the last scheduled departure.
3. Allow for the shuttle if you park in Red, Grey or Blue.
4. For pickups, choose EZ-PICKUP or the cell lot rather than circling the curb. EZ-PICKUP gives you two free hours. The cell lot gives you one.
5. Once you're through security, food is easy. Portermill opens for breakfast, and Friedrichs Coffee and Coffee + Bar cover quick stops.

January replaces the building, but the construction continues

The airport's homepage says to watch for the new terminal to open in January 2027, with six additional gates alongside the existing 13. No specific opening day has been announced.

The switch is designed to happen overnight. Crews will handle the night's final flights in the old terminal, move airline staff, IT systems and personnel across, and open the new terminal for the first arrivals the next morning. Business Record quoted Mulcahy describing a 4 a.m. opening. On some evening in January, the old terminal will process its last passengers, and the next morning nobody will use it.

Demolition comes next. In the same email to the Register, Mulcahy said that once that portion of the old terminal comes down, "roadwork will commence on the terminal roadway and progress throughout 2027." Drop-offs and pickups won't settle down when the new building opens. The roads in front of it will be under construction for most of next year.

The gates will also come in stages. According to the airport's January 2026 milestone announcement, a seventh new gate opens later in 2027, two more in 2028, and the last two by 2030. The Airport Authority's October 13, 2026 board agenda pushed substantial completion of one later phase, Phase 1B East, from March 2028 to August 2028. The Register describes the whole Lift DSM program as a $550 million to $600 million project.

What the new terminal adds for people who aren't flying

The Register lists ticketing, a TSA checkpoint, baggage claim and meet-and-greet spaces among the main terminal areas set to open in January. It also describes a ticketing lobby with a 35-foot glass wall, a baggage system with 10 times the handling capacity of the current one, and a central checkpoint with eight screening lanes.

The new terminal's first retailer has a local focus, as the Register's coverage of the store notes. Airport Experience News reported in August 2026 that Hudson won an eight-year contract for River & Grand by Hudson. The store will sell fresh food, snacks and travel essentials alongside Iowa brands, including RAYGUN, Bozz Prints, BLK & Bold, Clear Creek Orchard, Ironwood Candle Co. and Brown Dogs Farm. The airport's Lift DSM page names Sky Bru as one of three coffee shops past security and shows a food hall, also past security.

Route changes are lined up for the new terminal too. Southwest will start daily nonstop service to Nashville in March 2027, its Phoenix service will increase seasonally to daily, and Chicago Midway will continue with one daily nonstop, according to the airport's July 2026 announcement. The airport's stated goal for all of it is "to keep flying DSM as easy as it is today." Until the switch in January, holiday flights still leave from the old terminal, where Portermill, Arugula & Rye, Friedrichs Coffee and Coffee + Bar are all past security.

At Boutique Real Estate, we follow changes across the metro, from the airport to road projects like this, because they shape daily routines long before the ribbon is cut. If you have family flying in for the holidays and want to talk about what's changing around Des Moines this year, we're happy to help.