More Space Being Added To Inventory

When it comes to exhibit space in convention centers, it seems like enough is never enough.

News in the past year has involved some of the largest convention centers in the United States. Either they're expanding (like the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia), changing their plans for expanding (the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center of New York moving the completion date of its project from 2010 to 2014) or opening (Chicago's McCormick Place West).

It's not just the biggest players who are dominating the news either.

According to the just-released 2007 Tradeshow Week Major Exhibit Hall Directory, the number of grand openings of smaller centers in smaller cities across the country in the next 12 months will be about the same compared with the last 12 months.

A few, like the Kansas City (Mo.) Convention & Entertainment Facilities, which opened April 28, hope revitalized convention centers translate to more happy clients returning to town.

Others, like the Branson (Mo.) Convention Center, which opened Sept. 7, and the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., which opened Aug. 1, hope to attract new events to cities that did not have convention centers before.

"Our location in the Midwest is just hard to beat," said Lynn Berry, director of public relations for the Branson Convention & Visitors Bureau. The city, tucked in the Ozark Mountains, has already lured Log Home & Timber Frame Expo, a show for the log- and timber-home buying and building process held 14 times a year in different cities in the United States. It's scheduled Nov. 2–4, and already has plans to return next April.

And there is even more venue construction in the works. By mid-2007, 7.79 million square feet of exhibit space were in various stages of development, a 3.1-percent increase compared with mid-2006.

The latter part of 2007 will see four new venues either opening or completing expansions:

• The Sevierville Events Center at Bridgemont in Sevierville, Tenn., will open this month with 127,551 sq. ft. of exhibit space.
• Toronto Congress Centre in Toronto will double its exhibit space from 500,000 sq. ft. to 1 million sq. ft. when its expansion is completed in October.
• The Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, near the Orange County Convention Center, will add 186,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space. The completion date, originally scheduled for April, was pushed back to October.
• MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas will add 90,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space by December, bringing the total amount to 300,000 sq. ft.

Since the last TSW Semiannual Update on New and Expanding Venues in February, six facilities have opened, adding about 723,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space to the country's inventory:

• The Anaheim Marriott added 31,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space when it opened in April, bringing the total space available to 85,000 sq. ft.
• The Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa., added 50,000 sq. ft.
• The Branson (Mo.) Convention Center brought 81,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space to a tourist destination with more theater seats than New York's Broadway.
• McCormick Place West opened in August, adding 470,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space to a facility that already was one of the largest in the country. The completed project has nearly 2.7 million sq. ft. of exhibit space.
• Peoria (Ill.) Civic Center's expansion added 45,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space to the previous 63,668 sq. ft. when it was completed in March.
• Kansas City Convention & Entertainment Facilities added 46,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, for a total of 480,800 sq. ft., when it was completed in late April.

But it's stories like the Pennsylvania Convention Center obtaining its funding that make headlines.

The expansion plan in Philadelphia passed the first milestone in August when demolition on the site began. The project will add 260,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space to the existing 440,000 sq. ft. The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau has already booked more than $1.2 billion in future business into the expanded convention center.

"Before 1993, when the current convention center opened, Philadelphia had very few hotels, restaurants, shopping districts, and other hospitality services that today are fixtures in what makes Philadelphia such a great city for visitors and those who work and live in the region," said Nick DeBenedictis, chairman of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Expansion has already stimulated more growth, including plans for new hotels that are expected to add an additional 2,000 hotel rooms to our inventory."