Expanded Salt Palace Comes Alive
By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 8/21/2006
The Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City astonished industry observers this month when its 217,000 square foot expansion opened just 22 months after local and facility officials had proposed it.
The $58 million project added 145,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space and 72,000 sq. ft. of meeting space to Salt Palace's existing 370,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space and 100,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.
The construction team and facility operators stayed within their budget and sped the project through an accelerated schedule to accommodate the demands of Salt Lake's biggest tradeshow client, VNU Expositions' semiannual Outdoor Retailer.
Two years ago, VNU considered relocating the venue-bound show (Denver and Las Vegas were said to be in the running as alternative sites), but changed its mind when manufacturers and retailers in the recreational gear business — led by OR's sponsor, the Outdoor Industry Assn. — said they preferred to stay in Utah.
VNU gave Salt Lake until the opening of this year's Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, Aug. 10–13, to expand the convention center or lose the show. As a result of the expansion's on-time completion, and following OIA's recommendation, VNU has contracted with Salt Palace to host OR's summer and winter versions through 2010.
Allyson Jackson, SMG general manager of Salt Palace, likened the Aug. 10 opening of the facility's expansion to the "coming alive" ceremonies the U.S. Navy holds when it commissions new ships: "All the sailors are dockside, and the first mate whistles them to their spots. I felt like that as we were opening the show and the masses of people that had gathered in the lobby began flooding toward the back of the hall," she said.
Peter Devin, VNU's group show director for the outdoor industry, said, "We're very happy. It was a miracle. The reality of having a project get planned, funded and executed in 22 months is pretty incredible."
According to Devin, the show drew 21,700 attendees (including exhibitors), featured 967 exhibiting firms and filled 400,500 net sq. ft. That compares with 19,309 attendees, 937 exhibitors and 351,972 net sq. ft. for last year's Summer Market, No. 52 on the Tradeshow Week 200.
The show is already using almost 60 percent of Salt Palace's new total of exhibit, ballroom and meeting space.
Exhibitors were pleased with the attendance boost.
"It's incredible," said Stephanie Robitaille, who handles international communications for women's outdoor wear company Lole. "The aisles are flooded. Our booth is crowded. Nobody has a free moment."
Also breathing a sigh of relief Aug. 10 was Scott Beck, who became president of the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau last September as the second phase of the expansion ramped up. Including OR, worth $33.5 million annually in economic impact, the completed expansion has helped Beck's staff book 14 future meetings and conventions worth $220.9 million, according to bureau estimates.
Two groups, Rotary Intl. and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, will meet in Salt Lake in 2007, generating an estimated $21.9 million in direct spending combined. One other, EMS Associates, has a tentative booking for next year valued at $1.6 million. An independent study commissioned in 2003 by several civic organizations predicted that the Salt Palace expansion would generate $40 million in new visitor spending annually.
Beck described scheduling a walk-through of a new construction project with a facility's No. 1 client just before the opening of that client's show as "a recipe for disaster." But, he said, "it went really well. Everyone involved stayed focused on what the task was. ... They never wavered."
He gave much of the credit for keeping everyone on track to Jackson and her team.
Jackson said the project was finished "with a slide into home base. It was that close, getting the freight in, the show set up and the lights on."
The facility received its temporary certificate of occupancy from the county on July 25. A small convention using the pre-existing halls had to be out of the building at 5 a.m. Sunday Aug. 6. OR began its move-in at 8 a.m. that day.
To illustrate the expansion's under-the-wire urgency, Jackson joked that a paint crew was still doing touch-ups on a wall behind a pre-show press conference in progress.
The most stressful challenge, she noted, was having the same facility-wide move-in as before, but with 200,000 more sq. ft. of space to keep an eye on.
As with all projects, minor snafus came up at the last minute (for instance, the purchased carpet adhesive wouldn't work in the extreme heat and humidity Salt Lake experienced in late July), but unlike other projects, this one had no wiggle room in the schedule.
Some minor finishing work remains to be done, such as painting in emergency stairwells and installing artwork and landscaping. The facility dedication is scheduled for the end of October.
"At that point, we'll be all spruced up and in our new clothes," Jackson said.
