Industry Members Lobby for Javits Expansion

Several tradeshow industry representatives are among those on a committee lobbying to make sure the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center's long-overdue expansion doesn't get lost in the shuffle of New York's 2012 Olympic bid.

The committee includes George F. "Jeff" Little II, president of George Little Management; Ken McEvoy, Reed Exhibitions senior vice president; and Candida Rosanelli, show director for the New York Intl. Auto Show. CEO Bob Boyle, several board members and a representative from Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields' office are also part of the group.

"We do need an expansion. We need it very badly," said Little, whose company is the Javits' largest customer, with 15 wholesale shows there annually. "I think the New York political community understands that."

For years, said Little, the Javits' space constraints have forced GLM to turn away business and shy away from expanding existing events and launching new events there. So dire was the need for additional space that GLM in 1998 financed construction of a 54,400 square foot temporary exhibit space called the North Pavilion. In order to hold its New York Intl. Gift Fair, the Javits' largest event, GLM must also rent space at Piers 92 and 94.

McEvoy said Reed's six Javits shows, including BookExpo America and Intl. Vision Expo/East, are also getting squeezed. "We need more meeting room space and more exhibit space. We're encouraged. It finally looks like we're going to get what we need," he said.

Rosanelli, meanwhile, said she's been forced to divide her auto show into separate sections for cars and sports-utility vehicles. Should the Javits expand to 1.4 million square feet, as originally planned, the show could be contained on one level. But Rosanelli doesn't expect that to happen due to problems in relocating the MTA bus yard.

"From a show producer's point of view, the most ideal situation would have been that it expanded to 1.4 million square feet," she said. Although the extra 200,000 square feet of exhibit space planned for each level in the reduced plans will be helpful, "it is not the most ideal situation for the auto show."

To be sure, the expansion has its supporters – at least in the current political regime. In his early January State of the City address, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised to more than double the state-run center's size, as well as to connect it with a subway line. Currently, the center is a 10- or 15-minute cab ride from major hotels.

Christyne L. Nicholas, president and CEO of NYC & Co., the city's marketing organization, has also been a fervent supporter. She applauded Bloomberg's commitment, noting that an expanded convention center could infuse the local economy with $1 billion in annual direct spending alone.

An expansion has been talked about for years. A study conducted in the late-'90s by the former Coopers & Lybrand recommended that the facility double in size. A 2001 PricewaterhouseCoopers study indicated that two-thirds more exhibit space and four times as much meeting space was needed in order for the facility to remain competitive.

But now the project is part of the West Side Olympic Complex, a $5-billion public and private project to transform "the decayed waterfront area on Manhattan's Far West Side into a vibrant commercial, residential, sports and tourism center." Besides an expanded convention center, where a half-dozen Olympic sports competitions can take place, planning committee New York 2012 has proposed that an Olympic Stadium be built for the games and later used as the New York Jets' home stadium. Under the plan, the stadium will also provide additional convention and meeting space.

For a time, some New Yorkers feared the high-profile stadium project was stealing the Javits' thunder. Some in the tradeshow industry also doubted the extra space would be much use for exhibiting, due to the stadium's configuration and the sports team's schedule.

In a letter to New York Gov. George Pataki, Little argued that the sports stadium project's economic impact "pales in comparison to the proposed expansion of the center." According to Little, nearly 21,000 New York state businesses and nearly 45,000 state residents attend GLM shows.

And, he added: "This is just the GLM story. Each and every client of the Javits center – and potential clients who cannot get in due to lack of space and date availability – have similar stories to tell. Any exhibit facility the Jets build will not solve the problem or satisfactorily address the needs of the tradeshow and convention industry."

Rosanelli believes the convention center will be expanded, whether or not the Olympics comes to town. Some local politicians fail to realize how much an expanded convention center could help the local economy. "The problem is it's too small and it's old and it needs a lot of updating. We also realize it could be a huge economic engine for the state and the city," she said.

When it opened in 1986, the Javits was the country's fourth-largest convention center, according to Tradeshow Week research. With 814,000 square feet of exhibit space and 100 meeting rooms on four levels, it has since sunk to 14th place. Still, New York hosts more Tradeshow Week 200 shows than all cities but Las Vegas, Chicago and Orlando.

Expansion plans call for 1,341,047 feet of exhibit space: 614,000 square feet on the first level and 727,000 square feet on the third level. Meeting rooms will be constructed on the fifth level and above 11th Avenue, increasing breakout room square footage from 22,799 to 297,718 square feet. The center hopes that the additional meeting rooms will make the Javits more attractive to medical, scientific research and engineering conventions, as well as tradeshows with strong educational components.

In addition, plans call for a 50-story, 1,500-room hotel at 42nd Street and 11th Avenue, where a new entrance is planned. But until the bus yards can be relocated, the expansion will probably go only as far as 40th Street, said Myles McGrane, the Javits' vice president of operations.

McEvoy said he likes the plans he's seen. He added that it's crucial that the existing Javits exhibit space keep operating while the new space is under construction.

Public funds are expected to finance the Javits expansion, in addition to parks, the No. 7 subway line and building platforms over the railway yards for the $800-million, privately financed Olympic Stadium.

The environmental and public reviews of the Javits expansion, as well as extension of the subway line, are scheduled for completion this year, with construction starting in 2005. During his annual speech, Bloomberg termed the projects "essential to our New York's long-term future," as well as central to the Olympic bid.

New York is competing against Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, Paris and Rio de Janeiro for the right to host the games. The Intl. Olympic Committee will select finalists in May and the host city in July 2005.

McGrane said show managers were named to the committee to add "some expertise from the industry."

And if convention centers believe show managers are important, the feeling is mutual. As Little stated in his letter to the governor, "There is nothing more important to the success of tradeshows than a proper venue."