Cleveland Again Discussing New Venue
By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 5/16/2005
Two years after a previous effort was abandoned, Cleveland officials are again talking about a new facility to replace the existing Cleveland Convention Center, which was built in 1922.
In updating a 2000 analysis of the area market, PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant Rob Canton compared the effect of taking no action to that of building a new center. Construction of a center with 200,000 square feet, Canton estimated, would enable Cleveland to draw 325,000 attendees to 235 conventions and tradeshows each year. A 300,000 sq. ft. center could attract 650,000 attendees to 260 events, generating a $24.1 million annual economic impact, he said.
If no action is taken, Cleveland could be expected to draw 37 events and 150,000 attendees each year, resulting in a $3.3 million economic impact.
The figures assume that a 600-room headquarters hotel would be built alongside the new center. In addition, the 300,000 sq. ft. scenario assumes closure of the Intl. Exposition & Conference Center, a private facility on city-owned land that will host 19 consumer and 13 tradeshows this year.
"If the success of a downtown is considered to be an important by-product of investing in a center, then the ultimate success of downtown Cleveland may also be hindered if the I-X Center remains open and occupancy and attendance at the new center suffers as a result of this local competition," Canton concluded.
The current convention center, which hasn't been renovated in 20 years, has "clearly been neglected," the report stated. Besides poor acoustics and lighting, and wires attached with duct tape, the center has only two loading docks. The currently accepted number of docks for a facility with 287,600 sq. ft. of exhibit space is 28.
"It is clear that the existing Cleveland Convention Center is not capturing its proportionate share of market demand for conventions and tradeshows," Canton wrote. "Due largely to the center's poor quality and the comparatively significant investments made by Cleveland's competitors, other destinations are able to attract what might otherwise comprise Cleveland's additional share of nationally and regionally rotating conventions and tradeshows."
The report was presented to the 11-member Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Facilities Authority, which held a brief meeting earlier this month to gather public input. The authority was formed two years ago to consider options after the mayor withdrew support for a sales tax to pay for a new $400 million center.
After months of debate over potential sites and developers at that time, Cleveland officials had opted to go with Forest City Enterprises' plan for a riverfront convention center in an expansion of the Tower City mall. Amid discussions about the new center, David Nolan, president of the Convention & Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland, was placed on leave after a controversy erupted over the bureau's spending practices.
