Construction crews in March completed the first concrete pour for the foundation of the $1 billion consolidated car rental facility east of Los Angeles International Airport, a lynchpin of the $5.5 billion plan to improve ground access to LAX.

Crews, led by general contractor PCL Construction Services Inc., on March 9 poured the first load of the estimated 265,000 cubic yards of concrete that will be needed for the 6.4-million-square-foot facility, according to Los Angeles World Airports.

“This foundation pour marks a significant phase of construction for the project, and we look forward to marking many more milestones with LAWA along the way to opening the facility in 2023,” Karl Schaefer, project executive with LAX ConRAC Partners, the developer consortium building the facility, said in a statement.

The facility is slated to consolidate operations of more than a dozen rental car companies currently scattered through Westchester, El Segundo and other nearby airport communities.

LAWA says it will be the world’s largest car rental facility, and in terms of square footage, it will be just 2% smaller than the Pentagon, one of the largest office buildings in the world.