Boston's Bayside Center Heads for History Books

Recognizing that Bayside Expo Center's days might finally be numbered, the Boston facility's owner has announced tentative plans to replace it.

Corcoran Jennison, which owns Bayside, has proposed a mixed-use development — including residential, retail and office spaces — to replace the current facility. Company officials said the decision was made easy by the number of consumer shows the center has lost recently to other venues in Boston.

Redevelopment plans for the 30-acre site confirm the talk that's been buzzing around Beantown for some time.

"It's been the subject of rumors for a number of years," said Jim Rooney, executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, a public entity that owns and operates the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center. "Most people in Boston expected that this day would come."

Rooney called the Bayside site "prime development land in Boston," because it sits along the waterfront of Dorchester Bay with excellent highway and public transportation access.

North American Expositions' New England Boat Show, held Feb. 17–24, and the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Assn.'s New England Intl. Auto Show, scheduled Nov. 28–Dec. 2, left Bayside after changes to state law allowed the BCEC and the Hynes to book consumer shows larger than 250,000 square feet. That's more than Bayside could accommodate with its roughly 235,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space.

"First, we lost the boat show. Now we learn that the car show is jumping over to the BCEC," Catherine O'Neill, spokeswoman for Bayside owner, Corcoran Jennison, told Tradeshow Week. "We warned everyone that this would happen if the law was changed to allow the taxpayer-subsidized BCEC to take major events like these away from a private-sector facility like Bayside Expo Center. It shows why these big gate (consumer) show companies lobbied so hard to change that law."

But not all the shows leaving Bayside have gone to the BCEC.

"There's a couple of shows that came over with us," said John Drew, president and CEO of Seaport World Trade Center, which has 120,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space.

One of those is the Natl. Golf Expo, Boston, managed, along with the auto show, by the Paragon Group. In the 2007 TSW Data Book, the golf show is listed as being booked at Bayside through 2011, but the show now will be held at Seaport beginning with the 2008 show Feb. 15–17.

Still, Seaport isn't expecting a lot more business coming its way, even if the redevelopment plans go as expected.

"We may see one or two more (shows) come our way, and that's about all," Drew said.

Most of the consumer shows going to the BCEC from Bayside want more room, and Seaport is even smaller than Bayside.

Drew said his property has catered to a different industry segment than Bayside, which focused on the consumer shows.

"We do an awful lot of tradeshows," he said.

According to Bayside's online calendar of events, the facility has few shows scheduled between now and the end of 2007.

The Boston Globe Ski & Snowboard Expo, New England Guitar Festival and the Boston Fall Home Show are among those on the calendar. September is the busiest with three events listed. The other months only list one event each.

But Corcoran Jennison officials said, for the next few years, the plan won't affect customers seeking Bayside for their events.

"Bayside Expo Center will continue to host gate shows and tradeshows for, at least, the next several years until the redevelopment plan is approved by state and local officials," O'Neill said.

Corcoran Jennison is expected to file its plan with government officials in the fall, she added.

And the future of Bayside is leaving one of its long-time shows, Town Fair Tires' World of Wheels, with a feeling of uncertainty.

"The show will not be held in Boston unless we can secure a date at the new (BCEC)," said Tom Williams, vice president of Champion Auto Shows, which produces the event. "We'd like to try and get a date there."

World of Wheels is scheduled Jan. 4–6 at Bayside, but the fate of the 2009 edition is unsure.

The show moved to Bayside in the early 1980s after the facility it was using closed.

"We chose (Bayside) because of its size and location," Williams said, adding that the facility had advantages: It was a well-known building with parking nearby, and it was large enough for the event. At one time, the show was staged at the Hynes, but outgrew it.

Through the years, though, Bayside has had a disadvantage: "The prices increased so much for rent and other services that it is very difficult to produce a profitable show anymore," Williams said.

World of Wheels uses every square foot of exhibit space with an average of 1,500 to 2,000 exhibitors and 100,000 attendees.

"We could us more (space), about 300,000 to 350,000 (sq. ft.)," he added.

"They have an absolutely great opportunity," Drew said of Bayside's pending change. Corcoran Jennison has developed other property it owns in the area. "They have great possibilities for the future," he added.