Javits Center Expansion Ends the Stall
State control board gives final go-ahead to the $1.7 billion project
By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 8/7/2006
After 10 years of exhaustive planning, politicking and trying to keep tradeshows that are busting at the seams, New York's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center will finally begin its $1.7 billion expansion and modernization.
The official word came July 26 with a unanimous vote by the state's Public Authority Control Board, comprised of Gov. George E. Pataki, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.
Jonathan M. Tisch, chairman of NYC & Co., the city's convention and visitors bureau, said the approval demonstrates that the political leaders (including Mayor Michael Bloomberg) involved in the project "have a keen understanding of the importance of the convention and meeting business."
With the expansion — scheduled to start this fall and be done by 2010 — the center's exhibit space will grow from 760,000 square feet to 1.1 million sq. ft. Meeting space will also increase, from 30,000 to 210,000 sq. ft. Plans include a marshaling yard on the north side of the venue.
The project also calls for a convention center hotel. The hotel is expected to offer 260,000 sq. ft. of meeting space as well.
"We don't have the luxury of acres and acres of land," said Tisch, who is also chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels. "This facility will be very relevant. (Show managers) can now book Javits."
On the promise of the expansion, NYC & Co. has already secured nine new conventions, representing 310,000 hotel room nights, $228 million in economic activity and $10 million in tax revenue.
Show management firms and associations waiting to grow their existing Javits shows were enthused by the news.
George Little Management President and COO Jeff Little said, "The growth of our business and of New York City's convention industry just took a huge step in the right direction."
He said he appreciated that New York has come to recognize that the tradeshow industry "is an important engine and an important potential engine" for the city.
Several GLM shows at the Javits have been waiting to grow for years, including the semiannual New York Intl. Gift Fair, and the annual Intl. Contemporary Furniture Fair and SURTEX, Little said.
Francesco C. Leboffe, vice president of marketing and special projects for the Toy Industry Assn., said he was grateful for the improvement of the 20-year-old venue, noting that "the second it opened, it needed to be expanded and renovated."
The association's American Intl. Toy Fair is "comfortably tight" at the Javits, Leboffe said. Its February edition spanned 326,000 net sq. ft. of exhibit space.
Ken McAvoy, senior vice president of operations for Reed Exhibitions in the Americas, said the expansion would "provide us with additional options to consider when bringing new business to New York."
And although they had to wait a decade, many involved parties said the news was worth it.
"Ten years is certainly a long time," Tisch said. "It's a good thing that I was young when I started, and I'm still young."
The project is expected to create more than 6,350 permanent jobs, as well as nearly 15,460 construction-related jobs during construction.
