Boston Convention Center looks to expand

Convention center looks to expand
Wants to spur investment, be competitive

By Casey Ross, Globe Staff | November 23, 2009

State and city leaders today will unveil a blueprint for dramatically expanding the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, part of an effort to make the city one of the nation’s premier meeting destinations and spur private investment on the South Boston Waterfront, two officials briefed on the matter said.

James Rooney, head of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, will outline plans for adding exhibit space, an auditorium for special events, and at least one more hotel with hundreds of rooms, said the officials, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly before the plan’s release.

They said the expansion plan is preliminary and will not move forward until the public has a chance to weigh in. A committee of public officials and private individuals will be appointed to consider the plan and to recommend whether to move forward with an expansion.

The five-year-old, $800 million facility has allowed Boston to attract big conventions but so far has failed to generate a building boom on the waterfront. Spurring private development in the area was one of the original reasons for building the center.

Officials with the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, which runs the facility, declined to comment last night.

One local official who was able to speak publicly, state Representative Brian Wallace, said an addition is needed to compete with cities like Las Vegas, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

“This would help us compete with the big boys,’’ Wallace, a South Boston Democrat, said last night. “So far, the convention center has worked out beyond anyone’s expectations. They’ve really done their homework and kept the community involved.’’

Still, it is unclear how an expansion plan would be received by neighbors in South Boston and the Fort Point Channel district, where residents have been pushing for the development of homes and parks before more commercial development is allowed. It is also unclear how much the expansion would cost, and how it would be paid for.

The quasi-public convention center authority probably would need state funding to pay for an expansion, at a time when Massachusetts is deep in a budget crisis.

To build the current South Boston center, the city and state adopted tourist-targeted taxes, and state taxpayers have paid millions in subsidies to cover operating deficits.

Convention center officials have argued that an expansion would pay for itself through the additional spending from tourists and visitors, which would result in more tax revenue from purchases in stores, restaurants, and hotels.

Gregory Bialecki, Governor Deval Patrick’s top economic aide, is among the officials expected to attend today’s event. Bialecki has been seeking to use stimulus funds and other government aid to reignite development halted by the economic downturn.

Officials at the convention center authority have long envisioned a significant expansion of the South Boston facility. Rising costs forced officials during construction to reduce the size of the center by nearly 100,000 square feet. Officials have been studying elements of the plan for the past two years and have previously suggested an overall expansion of 200,000 to 300,000 square feet. The 516,000-square-foot convention center sits on 62 acres, with about 22 acres available for expansion.

In recent years, overseers of the convention center have said a bigger facility is crucial to snagging lucrative gatherings and competing with other large cities. Boston has cracked the top 10 list of convention cities by Tradeshow Week, an influential industry magazine. Between 2005 and 2008, annual attendance at convention center events increased to about 550,000 from 200,000, according to the most recent annual report by the convention center authority.

But while convention traffic has increased, private development around the facility has stagnated. Bold plans for dozens of acres of hotels, residences, and stores have failed to materialize.

The recession has further delayed those efforts. Developer Joe Fallon has proceeded slowly with plans for 23 acres of offices, stores, and residences at nearby Fan Pier, but other projects, including a proposed retail mall to be called Waterside Place, are on hold.

Donovan Slack of the Globe staff also contributed to this report. Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com.
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