Pittsburgh CC to Reopen
Home & Garden Show makes quick change to new dates in Pittsburgh
By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 3/5/2007
Twenty-four years ago, the Pittsburgh Home & Garden Show opened the city's former convention center, so it's a nice coincidence, said the show's director, John DeSantis, that it should reopen the new facility following a structural collapse that shut it down for a month.
On Feb. 5, a 20¡ä¡Á60¡ä slab of concrete fell from the floor of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center's second-story loading area onto a water feature below, suspending part of a semi truck over the street. Officials closed the center, causing the Greater Pittsburgh Auto Dealers Assn. to cancel its 2007 Pittsburgh Intl. Auto Show. Several other events were also canceled, postponed or moved.
David L. Lawrence owner, the Sports & Exhibition Authority, a joint venture between the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, called in three separate structural engineering and architecture firms, including the one that worked on the project, to analyze the collapse and make recommendations. As they investigated the accident ¡ª and the city of Pittsburgh watched on the edge of its seat ¡ª organizers waited to decide the fate of their events.
Among them was DeSantis, who, as producer of one of the city's best established shows, led a users' advisory committee when the building was being designed. Days after the recent collapse, he told Tradeshow Week, "I have no worries about the show starting. ... I have confidence in the building and the industry and, as they say, the show must go on."
Go on it will, but not without some headaches.
According to Greg Yesko, a spokesman for the SEA, the engineers determined that the failure of an expansion joint caused the collapse. Designed to flex, the connection locked up under pressure from low temperatures and stress ¡ª compounded by the weight of the 48-foot truck ¡ª causing the beam it was attached to, to pull away.
The engineers recommended that this, and 21 similar connections in the facility, be retrofitted with Teflon-coated seats that would allow them to move properly, Yesko said, adding that they determined the building was safe as it was, but recommended changes should be made before next winter as a precautionary measure.
"We took a conservative approach and decided to do it all at once, not over the span of a year," Yesko said. The repairs made by the time the building reopens March 9 will address all the issues raised in the report, which had not been published by press time.
On Feb. 21, the SEA held a press conference where DeSantis learned that the David L. Lawrence would reopen March 9. The Home & Garden Show had been scheduled March 2¨C11.
DeSantis said officials from the SEA, Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau and SMG, which operates the center, waited until just before the press conference to make their decision. With a little more than one week before the scheduled opening of his show ¡ª and two weeks before the scheduled reopening of the center ¡ª he was forced to scramble.
It was a good news-bad news situation for DeSantis. The convention center would make room for him to hold his show starting the day the center reopened and give him the full nine days for it, but he wouldn't be alone. The Pennsylvania Assn. of School Business Officials Annual Conference & Exhibits would go on as planned March 13¨C16, eliminating one hall ¡ª more than 100,000 sq. ft. ¡ª from the Home & Garden Show's floor plan.
Postponing was not an option, DeSantis said, because many of the contractors that participate in the show schedule jobs to start at the end of the cold season, right after the show.
Compressing the show was a challenge for DeSantis ¡ª particularly with a full-time staff of two, including himself. He said the overwhelming media attention helped alert attendees to what was going on. After sending out e-mail blasts, faxes and letters to exhibitors, he brought in temporary staff to help with phone calls.
With a showfloor divided by product category, the lost hall meant there was no room for an entire section, home interiors. DeSantis said it wouldn't make sense to intersperse these products with others, such as lawn equipment, so he had to redesign the whole showfloor.
He started by eliminating and shrinking non-exhibit features, such as dining areas, and moving others to the convention center's large pre-function space. Then, he found himself in the unusual situation of asking exhibitors to reduce their footprint.
"Our objective is to not have to cut anyone, and at this point it looks like we won't have to," he said.
DeSantis expects attendance at the show will actually be higher than projected, because of all the publicity and the reopening of the facility, drawing curious observers.
On the down side, DeSantis said, was the Pennsylvania Assn. of School Board Operators' refusal to work with him.
"We have found PASBO to be particularly obstinate," he said. "They have absolutely refused to cooperate in any way and insist that they will have everything exactly as it was supposed to have been before all this happened."
He said he "couldn't say enough bad" about the association, which wouldn't return his calls.
In response to Tradeshow Week's inquiry, a spokeswoman for PASBO said, "Yes, we do know the home show is going on. Everything for our conference is going on as scheduled. Nothing for us has changed."
