Convention center plans grow, traffic won’t, planners say
New $35M road will bypass 17th Street, serve beach, airport
Broward County’s convention center is getting bigger. An 800-room hotel will be added. And yet, planners insist that traffic won’t get any worse.
How can that be?
The county says traffic actually could improve because a new bypass road will make it easier for drivers to get between the beach and U.S. 1, avoiding many of the traffic lights on Southeast 17th Street. People leaving the airport also will find it easier to get to the convention center or beach, county officials say.
The price for the bypass: $30 million to $35 million, paid mostly with state and federal grants.
The revised plans for the convention center call for a massive new ballroom — more than twice as big as the current main ballroom — that can seat 5,000 for dinner at one time. They’re adding 75 percent more space for exhibits, bringing the total to 350,000 square feet.
“We’ll be able to host larger
trade shows and larger groups will be able to come in,” Assistant County Administrator Alan Cohen said.
The county also is spending $5 million extra to reinforce the building’s supports so that another 150,000 square feet can be added on a new level if it’s ever needed.
“I just wanted to make sure that what we are building is large enough,” Commissioner Steve Geller said.
Staff assured him the county wouldn’t be building a “white elephant” that becomes outdated as soon as it opens.
Luring conventions
The limited amount of land and money restricts what the county can do, but officials say the plans will more than meet the county’s needs. The project, including the expansion, hotel and bypass, is estimated to cost $900 million.
The convention center still will be smaller than Miami’s after the expansion, but will be more competitive in attracting conventions against similar markets, such as Nashville, Tenn., Charlotte, N.C., and Austin, Texas, officials said.
While the expanded center should attract more and larger events, officials say that doesn’t mean traffic will get worse.
That’s because the center’s focus will shift away from consumer shows that draw people primarily traveling by car in South Florida.
Instead, it will go after trade shows and business conferences whose participants fly in and stay in nearby hotels.
Dealing with traffic
The county has agreed to Fort Lauderdale’s request to build the bypass road, which will reduce congestion on Southeast 17th Street and U.S. 1, in part by using Eisenhower Boulevard south of 17th Street.
“In the end, I think we’ll have a transportation link that will suit the needs of the center as well as the community,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said.
The idea is to give people leaving the beach and wanting to head south an alternate route. It will let them skip several of the lights on Southeast 17th Street and get to U.S. 1. It will also provide traffic from the airport a similar alternate route to get to the convention center or beach.
The timing for when the expanded convention center will be completed has been pushed back.
The county doesn’t expect to break ground on the convention center expansion until 2020 and estimates construction will take three and a half years. The convention center will remain open for business during the construction.
The new expansion, estimated at $461 million, is being paid for with tourist development tax dollars, which is charged to people staying at hotels and other lodgings in the county. Officials estimate the expansion will put “more heads in beds” in county lodgings to the tune of more than $100 million a year.
The county-owned hotel will cost $384 million. Hotel revenues will be used to pay back the bonds for the hotel. The county will contract with Omni Hotels to manage the hotel and will lease the property to the company.
“We’ll have a transportation link that will suit the needs of the center as well as the community.” Dean Trantalis, Fort Lauderdale mayor