Convention center studies expansion

Expanding the Orange County Convention Center could generate half a billion dollars in new economic impact and fill 550,000 more hotel room nights annually, its leaders say.

Executive director Kathie Canning expects to ask the Orange County Commission by early next year for permission to build a 200,000-square-foot multi-purpose venue, a 60,000-square-foot ballroom as part of a proposed $500 million expansion.

She projects the center could draw 25 new events, bringing in 250,000 more people.

In-house researchers used the center’s history and spoke with vendors who serve on the facility’s advisory board to make the projections.

Of 340 shows that have not come to Orange County in recent years or never have, officials say they could land 25 of those if the

convention center adds more space.

“It’s a lofty goal but we can do it,” said Canning, adding it would take about three years to host 25 more shows annually once the space opened and caught its stride.

But some who follow the industry question the payoff in expanding convention centers. One expert says convention centers are building expansions to attract more attendees who simply don’t exist anymore while another argues it’s a worthy investment to improve the facility.

While convention centers have added millions of square feet in exhibition space over the years, the growth in attendance has fallen far short, said Heywood Sanders, a public policy professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio who follows the industry and is an author on the subject.

“In most instances over the last decade and a half, convention center managers and local officials have said we’re going to spend this many dollars, we’re going to build an expansion, we’re going to get a big increase in our business — and this increase has not happened,” he said.

Sanders blames, in part, the economy over the years as some people or businesses decide the expense or the logistics of traveling to a convention aren’t worth it.

The Orange County Convention Center has expanded four times since being built for $54 million and opening in 1983. The last major expansion at the center, which has grown to about 2.1 million square feet of exhibition space, was about 15 years ago at a cost of $748 million — its most costly to date, with three others topping the $150 million mark.

Orange County estimates the average delegate spends about $1,970 a day while in Orlando, which is similar to consultants’ estimates for Las Vegas convention goers.

“You see the economic impact walking around, whether they are in volleyball uniforms or MegaCon costumes or in suits and ties,” Canning said.

Sanders says those crowds at convention centers are not growing.

Attendance at the country’s four largest convention centers, which includes Orange County, reached 3.83 million in 1996 and 4.06 million in 1997, but by 2016, was stagnant at 4.02 million, he said.

He analyzed conventions and trade shows only, not events like MegaCon or consumer shows that may draw more local residents who aren’t as likely to stay in hotels. The other three convention centers he tracks are in Atlanta, Chicago and Las Vegas.

“If you look at the four of them combined, you see some have steadily lost business or modestly gained business,” Sanders said. “The attendance is where it was 20 years ago.”

But Canning argued the Orange County Convention Center’s weather and proximity to theme parks puts it in a unique position to grow.

Without an expansion, she said she believes the convention center could begin to lose current customers because they want more space. She could not say how many shows the center could lose but said it was a “significant” number.

In 2016, the convention center hosted 122 trade shows and exhibitions. In 2005, the center had 114.

Consultant Charles Johnson of Chicago, an enthusiastic supporter of expanding the convention center, calls it an important reinvestment of hotel tax dollars to improve the facility.

“What Orlando is doing is fine-tuning. That’s not a huge addition in the grand scheme of things,” said Johnson, a Chicago consultant for several convention centers, including Orange County’s. “Orlando is already good and they want to get better.”

The ballroom could provide more space for socializing — which is important at trade shows, he said, while bigger shows, like The Plastic Shows, which draws 70,000 people to Orlando, will take advantage of more room in the multi-purpose building.

The benefits could be counted not only by hotel rooms and hotel tax revenue but by bringing industry leaders to Orlando, said Johnson, who grew up in Orlando.

“There’s not a smarter investment they could make,” he said.