Gov. Kathy Hochul broke ground Thursday on a new terminal at JFK airport.

It’s the first step in the $4 billion renovation project. Hochul has taken the lead on major construction projects, but she takes a different approach from her predecessors.

In Queens, the construction is beginning on a brand new 1.2 million square foot terminal at JFK airport.

Terminal 6 will open in two phases, the first in 2026, the second two years later. It is expected to bring 4,000 jobs, including 1,800 construction jobs.

“It’s an airport, yes. But it’s also an economic engine,” Hochul said during the ceremony. “Supporting over 280,000 jobs, $17 billion in wages. It is truly the nation’s leading airport for international visitors. And key to our tourism industry. We know what happened during the pandemic. We took a hard hit. But now people are seeing this city, this state, we are back.”

Hochul has been taking the lead on big construction projects, including the city’s two major airports, but also the new East Side Access for the Long Island Railroad at Grand Central Station.

Her predecessor Gov. Andrew Cuomo relished his moments promoting big infrastructure projects. But according to Democratic consultants Alexis Grenell, who writes about gender issues, there are big, noticeable differences in Hochul’s approach.

“She is not the office in that sort of Louis XIV, ‘I am the state,’ which was very much the Cuomo mentality. She is sort of an occupant of the office for as long as we will have her. And that’s actually a much more democratically appropriate conception of the work and the job,” Grennell said.

And the work of transforming the city’s big infrastructure continues to march forward, even with that new approach.

“Another milestone continuing JFK’s domination among the world’s premiere airports. I said that, and therefore it is now true. So, let’s lean into that story because I believe in that,” Hochul said.

Terminal 6 will include ten new gates and will clock in with an estimated cost of $4.2 Billion.