Adventures in Space

Recession aside, new and improved convention centers continue to make their mark.

By Marc Boisclair

When asked why, in the current economic climate, San Francisco is moving forward with a major addition to its Moscone Convention Center, Leonard Hoops wastes no words. “Contiguous exhibit space,” says Hoops, executive VP and chief customer officer for the San Francisco CVB, and the man who’s been overseeing the convention center expansion project for the past two years. “Moscone has been running between 70-80 percent occupancy, and the feeling was, how do we do something ASAP about expanding because the destination is leaving money on the table?”

Hoops and his team then asked their current clients what would work best. “We said ‘Would you like us to consider an entirely new site and build a brand new building, from scratch, with all this contiguous space?’” he says. “No one said yes, given where we’d have to build it. But they still wanted contiguous space — and a lot more of it.”

The result: Moscone East, a proposal to add 104,000 square feet of contiguous space to the existing facility (adjacent and connecting to the center’s current South Hall) that could be sold either on its own or as part of an overall convention center package. “It’s been endorsed by the bureau and the task force on expansion, and the city planning commission gets it next,” says Hoops. “We’re pretty confident that if we build it they will come.”

Timing is everything

Indeed, despite the challenging economy, many destinations seem equally confident, forging ahead with both their concepts and actual construction on convention centers, hoping for a “Field of Dreams” outcome. Our list of projects planned or in motion stretches across the continent and up and down the size and cost scale, from tiny Orange Beach, Ala., to Phoenix, Philadelphia and the Big Apple.

Given tight budgets and a still wobbly economy, convention center scenarios can prove a minefield. Reports out of Nashville, for example, have the new Music City Convention Center running nearly a year behind schedule, raising concerns about cost overruns and penalties with a half-dozen groups already booked for 2013. Elsewhere, officials seem happy to have dodged the recessionary bullet by virtue (or by the sheer luck) of having started the extensive and expensive planning process sooner.

“Am I happy that things got planned and approved before the economy softened? Sure,” says Amy Huntley, director of convention sales and marketing for the Tulsa, Okla., CVB. With the city’s economy in good shape and its $50 million convention center project coming to a close, Huntley can certainly breathe a bit easier. “Our center really needed a facelift to be competitive so this was a must for us,” she says. “We had some delays but we’re elated that it will be done in January and turn out exactly the way we wanted.”

Plans for the Virginia Beach Convention Center, which opened in 2007, were under discussion as early as 2001, per Al Hutchinson, VP convention sales and marketing at the Virginia Beach CVB. “When we looked at doing this it was a good plan for us,” he says. “While we’re not insulated from the economy we were fortunate. I’d rather have a building open right now than try to get a consensus to build one.”

That said, even San Francisco’s enthusiastic Hoops understands the wisdom of a reality check. “One caveat to our plan is a full ROI analysis (due this month) before formally signing off on it,” he says. “Assuming the ROI is significant then it gets a little more steam behind it.” And while the Moscone plan was hatched well before the economy tanked, the downturn has nonetheless tempered the sense of urgency for many of its cheerleaders. “We don’t expect to get out of planning and the various city processes until the end of 2010, and we won’t see a shovel in the ground until 2015,” says Hoops. “We’re now thinking about a 2017 opening, and that’s the timeline we’re essentially on.”

Here’s an update on what’s happening around the industry, divided loosely into four geographic regions. More information on project timelines and final ETAs are available from the individual CVBs.

Northeast

In Boston, the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center is in the midst of an $18 million expansion and renovation that will upgrade the facility’s technology and add up to 30,000 square feet of retail space.

After years of discussing the idea, New York authorities recently gave the green light to a $436 million makeover of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The multi-tiered project, which could begin as early as 2010, includes $391 million for a top-to-bottom renovation and $39 million for an expansion of 100,000 square feet, roughly 40,000 of that as exhibit space. Mid-June 2010 is the groundbreaking target for the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center’s $7 million
dollar multi-phase renovation and improvement project.

Work continues on the major expansion and renovation of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. The revamped center will feature more than 1 million square feet of space in seven halls and 73 meeting rooms, including 700,000 of that as contiguous space for exhibits. The $170 million Lancaster County Convention Center, in conjunction with the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square in Lancaster, Pa., opened this summer with 90,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, including a 45,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall.

In Toronto, Ontario, the new $46 million Allstream Centre at Exhibition Place just opened with 160,000 square feet of versatile meeting and exhibit space, including a  44,000-sq.-ft. ballroom and 20 second-floor meeting rooms.

Midwest

Battelle Hall, the Greater Columbus (Ohio) Convention Center’s showpiece function area, is undergoing a $40 million facelift that will deliver it expanded, revamped and renamed the Battelle Grand. When completed by year’s end the new ballroom will be Ohio’s largest, running about 52,000 square feet on the main level, with almost 25,000 square feet more on the mezzanine. In Cleveland development continues on the new $425 million Medical Mart & Convention Center, a meetings and trade show facility design specifically for the health and medical industries. With a finish date in 2013, the multi-building project will include 120,000 square feet of permanent showrooms, 300,000 square feet of exhibit space and 100,000 square feet of flexible meeting space. The Sharonville Convention Center, 15 miles north of Cincinnati, will more than double its meeting space to about 115,000 square feet by 2011.

Des Moines just gave the go-ahead to a $42 million upgrade and expansion of Veterans Memorial Auditorium. In Wisconsin’s Dells the Chula Vista Resort has wrapped up a $200 million renovation and expansion that includes a 200,000-sq.-ft. Exposition and Sports Center. Meanwhile work is wrapping on the Tulsa Convention Center’s new $50 million renovation and expansion, which will add 52,000 square feet of space (including a 30,000-sq.-ft. ballroom), 13,600 square feet of pre-function space, seven meeting rooms and an on-site kitchen.

A pair of meetings projects is keeping South Dakota in the news. The Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City has opened its new addition, a $25 million arena for conventions, conferences and special events with 27,000 square feet of exhibit space and seating 7,500 people. The $47 million, 140-room Lodge at Deadwood, a jointly funded project by the town of Deadwood and Regency Hotels, is open with a convention center that features 16,000 square feet of meeting space.

South

Construction is underway in North Carolina on the new riverfront Wilmington Convention Center, which is expected to open in September 2010. Included among the center’s overall 107,000 square feet of space: 63,000 for meetings (30,000 in an exhibit hall); a 12,000-sq.-ft. ballroom; eight breakout rooms; and 15,000 square feet of pre-function space with river views. The $192 million Raleigh Convention Center opened in late 2008 with 150,000 square feet of exhibit space, 30,000 square feet of meeting space and a 32,000-sq.-ft. ballroom.

Big changes are in the works for the Myrtle Beach, S.C., Convention Center. For starters, about $7.5 million has been set aside for the Rivoli Theatre, a new 802-seat performing arts center that will include a black box theatre, art gallery, offices and pre-function space. Groundbreaking is tentatively set for autumn 2010. An expansion of the center’s exhibit space (to 250,000 square feet) and meeting space (to 100,000 square feet) is currently in the early planning stages.

In Greenville, S.C., the Carolina First Center recently debuted a $22 million revamp. The facility’s new highpoints include 280,000 square feet of exhibit space and 60,000 square feet of meeting space (15 rooms).

Daytona Beach has finished the $76 million expansion of the Ocean Center Convention and Entertainment Complex. The center’s gain: 100,000 square feet of exhibit space and 30,000 square feet of new meeting space, boosting the interior total to 205,536 square feet. Size still matters, but bigger isn’t necessarily more practical in today’s construction plans. Tiny Orange Beach, Ala., for example, opened its first meeting facility, the Conference Center at the Wharf. The 27,000-sq.-ft. center includes a kitchen, the usual tech bells and whistles, and an 18,600-sq.-ft. exhibit hall for 2,000 reception or theater-style and 1,500 for banquets.

Texas gets a major meetings boost this fall with the opening of the new Irving Convention Center at Los Colinas. The $133 million, 275,000-sq.-ft. facility will include a 50,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall, 20,000-sq.-ft. ballroom, 20,000 square feet of meeting space and an 800-space parking garage. In Austin, the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center has opened on the University of Texas campus with three restaurants, 297 guestrooms, 40,000 square feet of meeting space and a fitness center.

West

The new Phoenix Convention Center has risen following a $600 million, multi-phase expansion and renovation. Highlights of the revamped facility include more than 502,000 square feet of exhibit space, three ballrooms (119,000 square feet total), more than 150,000 square feet of meeting room space (100 rooms) and a 21,000-sq.-ft. IACC-accredited conference center.

In New Mexico, the city of Las Cruces is spending $26 million to build its first-ever convention center located at New Mexico State University. The new 55,000-sq.-ft. center, set to open in late 2010, will feature just over 30,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 15,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall, six breakout rooms and a 9,300-sq.-ft. ballroom. The Santa Fe Convention Center in northern New Mexico opened late last year with 40,000 square feet of flexible space and a 500-car underground parking garage.

The Pasadena Convention Center unveiled its $150 million expansion earlier this year, which added 55,000 square feet of exhibit space, a 25,000-sq.-ft. ballroom and several environmentally green upgrades. The Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center just finished an $8 million sprucing up of its public spaces and lighting technology. This past summer also saw the debut of the Santa Clara Convention Center’s new $37 million dollar expansion. The 22,400-sq.-ft. addition, which includes the new Mission City Ballroom as well as lobby and pre-function space, brings the Silicon Valley meeting facility to 302,000 square feet total.

In Bellevue, Wash., the Meydenbauer Center opened its new Executive Conference Suite this summer with three meeting rooms and 2,500 square feet of flexible space. Colorado’s 900-acre YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park is wrapping up its $40 million Core Development Project expansion and facelift. When completed in May of 2010, the revamped resort bordering Rocky Mountain National Park will add a 34,000-sq.-ft. assembly hall with meeting space for 1,200 and dining for 600, three new LEED-certified lodges (200 rooms total), each with four meeting rooms and outdoor patios. The YMCA project comes on the heels of two recently completed facilities, the $1.3 million Legett Christian Center and $1.4 million Mootz Family Craft and Design Center.

In British Columbia, Canada, the Vancouver Convention Centre opened its new West Wing facility this past spring. The new addition — 223,000 square feet of exhibit space, 52 meeting rooms (60,000 square feet) and a five story, 55,000-sq.-ft. ballroom — nearly triples the size of the waterfront facility.

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Green Points: Raleigh

The Raleigh Convention Center received the Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification, putting the new center alongside six other U.S. centers that have achieved a degree of LEED certification.

“Being one of the few LEED certified convention centers in the country certainly puts us at a competitive advantage when trying to attract conventions and meetings where sustainability is one of the key requirements in the RFP process for the convention center or city,” says Dennis Edwards, CEO and president of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. “This certification adds to the number of positive reasons why Greater Raleigh is a major player in the convention market.”

The center earned its green rating for an energy-efficient design, recycling building materials and designating the building as being cigarette smoke-free. Sustainability initiatives on-going in Raleigh include LED lighting, greening the city’s vehicle fleet, renewable energy projects, rainwater harvesting and public-private collaboration, among others.

The country’s other six LEED-certified convention centers are the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, Pa., Gold; Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Ariz., Silver; Spokane Convention Center Expansion, Spokane, Wash., Silver; Portland, Ore., Convention Center Expansion-Oregon Convention Center, Silver; Monona Terrace Convention Center, Madison, Wis., Silver; McCormick Place Convention Center West Expansion, Chicago, Ill., Certified.

Read more about Green Meetings here.