DENVER — The head of Denver International Airport said she hopes to have a program manager and a construction team hired by this fall to allow work on the $770 million Great Hall improvement project to continue.

“I am really pleased with the progress,” said Kim Day, the CEO of DIA, during a Denver City Council Business, Arts, Workforce and Aviation Services Committee meeting Wednesday.

“I think this project is going to better than what we originally intended,” she said, promising a faster pace for completion than what was initially promised.

Day said the plan is to start construction work again early in 2020, but she was not sure whether any work would happen prior to that time.

“We are looking at whether or not there’s a way we could do some sort of a bridge contract to make some things happen, but it just isn’t decided yet,” she said.

The former renovation team has until Nov. 12, 2019 to vacate the property.

“Physically, they’ve removed some cranes, but for the most part, I’d say construction has slowed to a small clip,” said Day. “We can’t actually put another contractor in until (Nov. 12, 2019).”

Day said there are approximately 80 people working seven different steering committees to make sure the transition is running smoothly.

“We have a really robust pace, so those committees are forced to meet,” she said, explaining how the committees meet on a weekly basis.

Lori Jane Gliha wrote this report.