Janice Lee ’09 Worked to Renovate One of Hollywood’s Best-Kept Secrets

To many Los Angeles locals and visitors, the name “LAX” inspires trepidation. The international airport’s dreaded “horseshoe” driving loop for departures and arrivals often becomes extremely congested — and that’s experienced after all the traffic surrounding a principal airport serving a megalopolis of 18 million people.

But for Southern California residents based in the San Fernando Valley, Pasadena, and Glendale, there’s always been a super-convenient alternative, one of L.A.’s best kept secrets: Hollywood Burbank Airport (code “BUR”), a regional hub with a single terminal that offers many direct flights to nearby West Coast cities. 

Initially built in 1930, that airport is finally getting a long-overdue upgrade, with a brand-new terminal opening in October after 10 years of planning and two years of construction. 

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A rendering of the new Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Courtesy of Elevate BUR

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A rendering of the new Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Courtesy of Elevate BUR

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A rendering of the new Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Courtesy of Elevate BUR

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A rendering of the new Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Courtesy of Elevate BUR

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A rendering of the new Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Courtesy of Elevate BUR

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A rendering of the new Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Courtesy of Elevate BUR

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Born in New Jersey, Janice Lee ’09 had never heard of Hollywood Burbank Airport before she moved to Los Angeles in 2022. But she soon had a reason to get acquainted with it — she’d be deputy project manager of the one of the biggest renovations in the airport’s 96-year-history. 

“Everyone says it’s an in-and-out airport,” Lee says. “It’s very convenient. All those conveniences were critical to maintain.” 

Lee studied civil and environmental engineering at Princeton and wrote her thesis on the work of Latin American architects Eladio Dieste and Felix Candela. After graduating, she joined Teach for America, becoming a geometry teacher for two years in Chicago before pursuing her master’s in construction management at Columbia. 

“That was a great foundation, to understand how design evolves,” she says. “You know what to look for, what’s required, and what that process looks like.”

She got started in the airport-building business as a project manager for the LaGuardia Airport redevelopment, which saw the full demolition and reconstruction of the New York City airport into a single new terminal building over the course of six years, finally opening in 2022.

The new LaGuardia received rave reviews and a “Best Airport” award in 2024 from the Airports Council International (an organization of airport authorities), elevating a beleaguered facility that in 2014 then-Vice President Joe Biden described as only befitting a “third-world country.”  

After a decade in New York, Lee sought a change of pace in California, where she joined the Hollywood Burbank Airport effort. “I don’t think any construction project is smooth, per se,” Lee says, but “it’s been a very pleasant experience working with people on the project.” 

In August, Janice Lee ’09, left of center, led a tour of the Hollywood Burbank Airport for the Princeton Club of Southern California.

Courtesy of Janice Lee ’09

The terminal’s modern design, with searchlight columns and a monumental silver screen, pays homage to Hollywood’s cinematic legacy. The new airport, Lee says, will have “upgraded amenities, better food and beverage options, more space for circulation, and it’s not going to smell like grandma’s house,” which is “a big plus.”

And unlike LAX’s long-delayed “Skylink” tram designed to connect the airport to the L.A. Metro rail system, the new Hollywood Burbank Airport stayed on schedule to open well ahead of the expected influx of visitors for the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Summer Olympics, both hosted by the City of Angels.

At the end of August, Lee led a tour of the almost-finished terminal for members of the Princeton Club of Southern California. “There are certainly many lessons learned from each project and from this project as well,” Lee says. “I think working on this project really enhanced my problem-solving skills.”