Builders' Show Ups Commitment to Las Vegas

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 4/11/2005

Last month, the Natl. Assn. of Home Builders signed a 15-year contract with the Las Vegas Convention Center, putting the Intl. Builders' Show in the city eight times and sealing a Las Vegas-Orlando rotation from 2009 through 2020.

IBS, ranked 15th on the most recent Tradeshow Week 200, has seen strong growth over the last several years. The NAHB reported that this year's Jan. 13–16 show drew 105,000 housing professionals to visit 1.5 million square feet of exhibits at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

According to TSW research, the square footage has leapt from 597,540 net sq. ft. in Atlanta in 2002 to 714,787 net sq. ft. in Las Vegas in 2003, to 803,774 net sq. ft. in Las Vegas in 2004. During that time, professional attendance has climbed from 71,408 to 78,201.

IBS' meteoric rise has shut out two destinations favored by the association when the show was smaller. At one time, the NAHB was holding space for future shows at both the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

But, pointed out Wayne Stetson, the show's director, those cities no longer meet the show's space needs. IBS will fulfill its contractual obligation to Atlanta by holding its 2007 and 2008 shows there, but the following 12 shows will be split between Las Vegas (eight) and Orlando (four).

In December 2003, the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau filed a lawsuit against the NAHB asking the District Court of Eastern Louisiana to compel the association to either hold the 2013 and 2014 shows in New Orleans (and nowhere else) as once agreed, or pay damages.

The case was dismissed in February; however, a spokesperson for the New Orleans CVB said a settlement between the city and the NAHB was still under discussion.

"Our intent is to meet between Las Vegas and Orlando every two years," Stetson said. "The third city that could handle the Builders' Show is Chicago, but the timing doesn't work for us there, because we have to meet in January."

In a statement, current NAHB President Dave Wilson, an independent homebuilder from Ketchum, Idaho, said the association is "pleased with the level of service our attendees and exhibitors have received at the Las Vegas Convention Center" in the 27 years it has been meeting there off and on.

Asked if union contracts had anything to do with the decision to avoid Chicago, Stetson said, "Let me turn that around: If the weather were good in January, we'd go to Chicago in spite of the labor. We'd like to have a Midwest location ... Look, labor in Las Vegas isn't cheap either."

What can be cheap — and abundant — is hotel rooms. Apart from more than a million square feet of meeting and exhibit space, IBS requires around 40,000 hotel rooms.

The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority estimates the show will have a non-gaming economic impact of $1.2 billion on the city through 2020, based on the value of the dollar today.

Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the LVCVA, said the city did not have to make any unusual offers to woo IBS, which was already very familiar with Las Vegas.

"We've had a relationship with them since the 1970s, and they've always been successful here," Ralenkotter said. "It was a matter of us negotiating dates and our willingness to lease out to 2020."

Dates were key to the negotiations, Stetson agreed, since the show requires a two-week move-in, and the big venues' calendars book up fast in January and February.

Now is a good time for the LVCVA to tend to its anchor clients, Ralenkotter added, with the city's $400 million expansion and renovation about to get underway. Major tenants like the NAHB gave input during the development of that plan, and will continue to do so as it unfolds.

Moreover, the additional 100,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space and 150,000 sq. ft. of meeting space included in the plan will help the LVCC continue to accommodate growing shows like IBS, Ralenkotter pointed out.

"As we go through the remodel, we'll be looking at enhancing parking areas for groups like CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IBS," he said.

Intl. Builders' Show returns to Orlando next Jan. 11–14.