Despite Declining Revenues, Cities Expand And Build New Convention Centers

[M II A II R II K]

Straying from Convention


May 2, 2012

By Fred A. Bernstein



Read More: http://archrecord.construction.com/n...on-Centers.asp

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In January, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced that because the 600,000-square-foot Javits Center is too small for the biggest conventions, he wants to replace it with a 3 million-plus square-foot facility at Aqueduct Racetrack, in southeastern Queens. Genting, the vast Malaysian company that already runs a gambling operation at the Queens site, has reportedly offered to underwrite the new facility, at a cost of $3 billion or more. The Javits property would then be sold for residential or commercial development. Spending $463 million to renovate a building slated to be torn down? In the world of convention centers, stranger things have happened.

- In the last decade, the number of national conventions—as well as attendance at those conventions—has declined, in some cases precipitously, according to Heywood Sanders, a public policy professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. (One example is the AIA convention; its registration has dropped from 23,916 in 2008 to 13,369 in 2011.) At the same time, dozens of cities have been building new centers or enlarging old ones. In the last year alone, Indianapolis and Philadelphia have opened sprawling new centers, while plans for such facilities are being floated in Baltimore, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Boston. Miami Beach recently solicited proposals for a mixed-use development of up to 6 million square feet on the site of its existing, 640,000-square-foot convention center. In San Diego, hoteliers are being asked to accept a new hotel tax to cover the $520 million cost of a convention center expansion, with a rooftop park, by Fentress Architects of Denver. It’s much the same in smaller cities: Spokane’s convention center, enlarged only six years ago, is being readied for a new, $60 million expansion.

- The good news for architects: The money is being spent not just on bigger centers, but also better ones. According to Rob Svedberg, an associate principal at Atlanta-based Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates (TVSA), the last few years have seen a pronounced shift from convention centers
as giant, hangarlike buildings—“box with docks,” as they are known—to buildings with finishes comparable to those of concert halls and hotel lobbies. His firm is building a convention center in Nashville with so much woodwork, “you’ll feel like you’re inside a Stradivarius violin,” he says. People who travel to attend conventions, he says, “are looking for authentic experiences. They want to be in a real building.” Svedberg’s firm also designed the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (2003), site of this year’s AIA convention. If any center deserves to be a financial success, it is this one: an attractive building that seems to invite people in (unlike so many older convention centers), at the heart of the bustling Penn Quarter neighborhood, in a city that is already popular with conventioneers. And yet the center lost $18 million in 2011. Chinyere J. Hubbard, vice president of communications and marketing for the building’s owner, Events DC, says most convention centers show losses and deserve to be judged by how much economic activity they bring to the community.

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The Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C.

[McBane]

The money is being spent not just on bigger centers, but also better ones. According to Rob Svedberg, an associate principal at Atlanta-based Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates (TVSA), the last few years have seen a pronounced shift from convention centers as giant, hangarlike buildings—“box with docks,” as they are known—to buildings with finishes comparable to those of concert halls and hotel lobbies. His firm is building a convention center in Nashville with so much woodwork, “you’ll feel like you’re inside a Stradivarius violin,” he says. People who travel to attend conventions, he says, “are looking for authentic experiences. They want to be in a real building.”

Not the case in Philadelphia. Long blank walls. And plans for a vegetative top were scrapped. It's fugly.

[iheartthed]

I'd imagine that the cost of bringing 10,000 people to New York is as much a hindrance to hosting conventions as the size of the Javitz Center. I was involved in a large organization that hosts an annual 10,000 person convention that never considers New York because it's not cost competitive.

[mhays]

Expensive cities can go after different groups. Seattle is moderately expensive and has a small convention center. So we go after doctors and scientists more than salesmen or social clubs. We do well with it. That helps fill the center, and the visitors spend like drunken sailors.

[BnaBreaker]

Here are a couple renderings of the new Nashville Music City Center that is referenced in the article, which is now probably more than half way complete:


http://www.kcestructural.com/images/...20CenterSM.png

http://nashvillemusiccitycenter.com/...enderingSW.jpg

[hudkina]

Detroit's Cobo Center is getting a massive expansion and makeover:



• Video Link

[mhays]

Seattle's center is tiny. Even getting to the current 205,000 sf of exhibition space required bridging a freeway and two streets for Phase 1, and three other street segments for Phase 2. We don't have vacant blocks of any size. The planned expansion (might call that Phase 3) would be a roughly similar size but a couple blocks away. On the plus side, the location is phenomenal, next to our main retail and movie district, and within a few blocks of as many hotel rooms as our small hall typically needs. In fact, it's rare for our conventions to need more than 30-40% of our Downtown hotel inventory, vs. cities who often have more people than walkable rooms.

The convention center isn't our largest exhibition hall. Boat shows, RV shows, etc., use a different hall between the stadiums, as well as using the football stadium concourses and the lower level of a convertable parking garage.

Note: in any convention center discussion, people will confuse total square footage with exhibition hall square footage. The exhibition hall is a certain type of space within a convention center -- high ceiling, high load-bearing, power on a tight grid, etc.

[glowrock]

I think it's actually pretty wasteful to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build a convention center for the largest possible convention out there. It's like building a 10 lane freeway that's only planned to be at capacity during the busiest 30 minutes of rush hour, like building a full subway system where ridership will only meet projected capacity during NFL games, something like that.

It's another game of one-upsmanship, and it's getting pretty sad. Too much in the way of taxes for people within the city, for hotels, rental car companies, etc...

I understand the need for renovations to older convention centers. Nothing wrong with that at all. But there's no need for seemingly every city imaginable to have a facility that can hold the largest of conventions. There aren't many of the huge conventions nowadays, and they're not going to be able to fill every huge convention center built in this country.

Aaron (Glowrock)

[osmo]

Also with technology improvements people wont need to travel as far or at all. Having 4 smaller conventions and linking them by video and audio will be way cheaper then hosting one large gathering. People are finding you network before hand substantially online, going to the convention is just icing on the cake. In 20-25 years the modern convention we know now will be radically different.

[llamaorama]

To be fair to some of the cities listed, they actually do host major events. Detroit for instance reliably hosts Auto shows year after year so even if the city is broke they could still use something like that.

The real question is why smaller cities want to build multi-purpose events venues when nobody would want to actually visit them. For instance my hometown has repeatedly tried to get some kind of convention center built even though it would not make sense and we actually have a venue already.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by glowrock

I think it's actually pretty wasteful to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build a convention center for the largest possible convention out there. It's like building a 10 lane freeway that's only planned to be at capacity during the busiest 30 minutes of rush hour, like building a full subway system where ridership will only meet projected capacity during NFL games, something like that.

It's another game of one-upsmanship, and it's getting pretty sad. Too much in the way of taxes for people within the city, for hotels, rental car companies, etc...

I understand the need for renovations to older convention centers. Nothing wrong with that at all. But there's no need for seemingly every city imaginable to have a facility that can hold the largest of conventions. There aren't many of the huge conventions nowadays, and they're not going to be able to fill every huge convention center built in this country.

Aaron (Glowrock)

I agree with that. Further, a convention center generates activity a small percentage of the time. To use your former city as an example, Downtown Denver has what looks like 20 acres of emptiness when there's not a convention. Many are similar. Great on convention days, and great for other misc meetings, but otherwise a black hole vs. regular blocks of everyday activity.

There's a balance between locating a CC right where the action is and putting it on the farther fringes (better land availability but not walkable to as many hotel rooms, shops, etc.). To accommodate the former you can go smaller, and fit the center into whatever land (or air rights) is available.

Going big works for some places. But assuming convention business declines as many think it will, it might not be a smart move. And certainly any additional inventory steals from what already exists. I like the idea of Seattle going for a satellite expansion, but I wouldn't suggest we go for a mega-center and wouldn't recommend others do either. Renovations are good.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by osmo

Also with technology improvements people wont need to travel as far or at all. Having 4 smaller conventions and linking them by video and audio will be way cheaper then hosting one large gathering. People are finding you network before hand substantially online, going to the convention is just icing on the cake. In 20-25 years the modern convention we know now will be radically different.

A lot of people actually like to have physical interaction.

[Xelebes]

I think Edmonton did it right by putting it's major conference centre in the valley (Shaw) or with other sports venues which was already a blackhole in the urban fabric. (Northlands.)

[M II A II R II K]

Perhaps they should be made to have other uses to make them more worthwhile, or have retail and cafes at street level on the outside of the building.

[mhays]

The other uses can detract from the main mission, require additional land, require more money than they generate, etc. For starters, that retail only works if there are customers every day. There are often win-wins, but there's no automatic panacea.

[SpongeG]

i read not too long ago that the convention business was growing, despite being in the age of video conferencing, companies and people like to interact in person and the conferences themselves are actually getting bigger and grander - they may hold them less though, once a year or two instead of a number of smaller ones

also those comic con type things seem to have more and more each year, dragon con, anime con, comic con, star trek con whatever con - seems to be a lot of those

anyway the convention centre here was expanded in part for the olympics - but its been very busy and hosted some large events lately and is apparently well booked into 2014

the bottom and outer areas are all retail spots, almost full now incld a new fitness club, pub and various restaurants


architectureweek.com

[trueviking]

winnipeg's convention centre will be growing by 300 000 s.f., nearly doubling in size.....it will suck up one of the most annoying parking lots in the city.

[mhays]

I walked around Vancouver's new center a couple times a couple weeks ago. It's highly integrated with the overall seawall/park, and Downtown in general. With two convention centers next to each other, cruise ships docking at one of them, and the general location, there's a far more consistent level of activity than most convention centers. It's a stacked concept and on a big pier, so it doesn't block anyone's way, and uses space efficiently, with that retail level in the photo being below the main hall. Add the view and it's a fantastic center in every way. Also it's not very large, making it a more prudent investment.

Comicon, sakuracon, etc., aren't very helpful for convention centers. Their job is to sell hotel rooms, restaurant meals, jewelry, etc., and those folks are often locals, heavy on kids and baristas. They're welcomed because they fill gaps between the real money-making conventions.

[MolsonExport]

The new version of expensively wasteful taxpayer supported sports venues.

[Jonboy1983]

I see your points mhays and glowrock. What is the largest LEED certified green convention center now? I know the David Lawrence Convention Center was when it was first built/expanded in 2003.

Speaking of one-upmanship, what is up with Philadelphia calling their convention center "the Pennsylvania Convention Center?" I guess the previously mentioned convention center is nothing more than a concert hall or something of the sort, huh?

As for the one up in Seattle, I was in that convention center for the annual AAG conference last year to present my masters research paper. I thought it was a good sized one at that. Granted, where I gave my presentation was actually in the adjoining Sheraton Hotel, but still, I thought the building was large enough and it looked rather attractive and not like some oversized warehouse or some other comparable eye-sore...