San Diego Set To Begin Long-Awaited Center Expansion
<B> San Diego Set To Begin Long-Awaited Center Expansion</B>
After years of delays and lawsuits by local libertarians, San Diego finally has broken ground on an expansion of its convention center.
The center will double in size to 525,700 total square feet, including 276,000 square feet of exhibit space and 100,000 square feet of meeting space. The enlarged venue, scheduled for debut in late 2001, is expected to increase the city's potential market by 30 percent, said Christine Shimasaki, the convention center's vice president of sales and marketing.
City officials are breathing a collective sigh of relief now that the project is finally under way. After the City Council approved plans to double the center in 1994, the Libertarian Party challenged its authority to finance the project through lease revenue bonds.
Last November, the Council tried to sidestep the issue with a new financing plan based on bonds that are repaid through hotel room taxes. But that proposal ran afoul of a former Council member, who forced a public vote on the issue.
City officials appealed for public support by explaining that the delays already had cost San Diego 75 conventions and $700 million in revenue. Voters listened and approved the new financing plan by a resounding 62 percent.
"We'll finally be able to compete with other West Coast cities for meetings," said Shimasaki, who believes the enlarged center puts San Diego in the running for everything except the largest 20 percent of meetings and conventions.
Hotel developers seem to share Shimasaki's optimism. The city will get 2,000 new hotel rooms in 1999 and an additional 3,500 by 2001.
Meeting planners already are buying in. The city recently signed, for example, the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, which is planning to host more than 14,000 attendees.
"Judging by demand, we have been under-represented in the size of our convention center," said Reint Reinders, president and CEO of the San Diego CVB. "We've heard from many groups that have not met here because of our lack of space. In fact, I'm already thinking of another expansion--we have the demand. We don't need to be the largest convention center in the state, but we can fill a million square feet.