San Diego Convention Center Readies for Expansion
The San Diego Convention Center, home of the biannual Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo, is the target of a 500,000-square-foot expansion plan, aimed at luring large events and accommodating existing exhibitors such as ASR with their own expansion efforts.
The San Diego Convention Center Corp., which operates the 525,000-square-foot facility, is eyeing an 8.5-acre site west of the existing convention center and adjacent to Embarcadero Marina Park South. The site was previously pegged for a 20-story hotel, but the project has been stalled for about seven years and options for the original developers have expired.
That opened up an opportunity for the convention center and city of San Diego officials to negotiate a one-year, $1 million option on the land with another option to lease the property for $14 million a year after that period. The land and the convention center are owned by the San Diego Unified Ports District.
Over the next year, convention officials, along with the city and Port of San Diego, will form a design-build team to outline costs, funding and architectural concepts. A convention hotel and water taxis may also be part of the plan, said officials during an announcement of the project. The long-range plan is to add up to a half million square feet of space by 2014.
City officials have contended that they need the extra space to lure big events and keep existing exhibitors from moving elsewhere. Aside from ASR, which rakes in about 18,000 visitors per show, the center is home to the giant Comic-Con International comic book and arts convention, which brings in about 125,000 visitors per show. The convention center, which is a public benefits corporation, reaps about $1.8 billion in business for the city annually.
Cheryl Kendrick, chair of the Convention Center Corp., said convention operators have had to turn away about a year’s worth of business because of the space constraints. “It’s very simple. To remain competitive, we must expand. San Diego has evolved into a leading destination and continues to be in strong demand,” she said.
A spokesperson for ASR said the show usually takes up about three to five halls of the convention center as well as meeting space on the mezzanine and third floors, but the show may be able to take advantage of the additional space in the future as it continues to grow.
In September, it added a new category called Virtue, catering to the mixed martial arts crowd at the Hard Rock Hotel, located across the street from the convention center.In addition, the Agenda trade show, catering to alternative and streetwear stores, also takes place offsite.
Andy Tompkins, group show director of ASR, said the show currently fills only about half of the convention center.
“What this may do, however, is open up some scheduling opportunities. The convention center is always packed right now, and we are always looking to do different things, so this may help in that respect,” he said. —Robert McAllister
