Broward’s convention center is on tap for huge overhaul
Pandemic has caused delays, lost tourist tax money for project
The pandemic has struck Broward’s big renovation of the county convention center, putting on hold the construction of an 800-room hotel as well as the east side of the redeveloped center.
The renovations are meant to keep the allure alive for big events in Broward after hospitality officials warned years ago that the county could miss out on business by lacking the facilities to host larger conventions.
Broward commissioners approved the massive project in 2016. Now, by postponing certain work, the county is protecting its ability to finance the project over the long term — to ensure “we can move forward with our projects as planned,” said Alan Cohen, assistant county administrator.
How long the delays would set back the overall plan remains to be seen. The county still is moving forward with the west-side expansion of the convention center and is finalizing designs for the delayed portions “so we are essentially shovel ready for when the conditions improve,” he said.
Next week, county commissioners are scheduled to consider a consultant’s recommendation to approve new loans to fund future and current expenses for the west-side expansion, as well as pay off old debt used to buy land for the hotel. The total tab: $279 million.
There are three main phases of the redevelopment project:
■ The expansion on the west side of the convention center that adds significant exhibition space. That portion of the project is expected to be completed by October 2021 as scheduled.
■ A new stand-alone building on the east side that adds meeting room space and a new, larger ballroom, with new kitchen and commissary facilities to serve the entire complex.
■ The new hotel on the north side adjacent to 17th Street Causeway.
The project also would include a public plaza and a new headquarters for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The county had planned to issue bonds to pay for the project, but never did. The convention center expansion and creation of the outdoor plaza, estimated to cost $584 million, would be paid for by using tourist sales tax dollars generated by hotel guests in the county.
Bonds for the hotel construction, expected to cost $491 million, would be paid back from the hotel’s revenues.
But then the coronavirus pandemic rocked the nation’s economy in March, severely undermining the tourism industry, one of the pillars of South Florida’s economy. Hotels either closed or dramatically cut back capacity as they complied with public health orders issued by state, county and city governments. Tourists stopped traveling, cruise lines topped sailing and groups canceled meetings and other events.
That’s what immediately gave county administrators and elected officials pause as they weighed the long-term impact of the pandemic on its ability to pay for the project over the next 30 years.
The pandemic has already placed a major financial strain on city and county governments nationwide, with lawmakers in Washington clashing with the Trump Administration over federal aid. Whatever the outcome, a sharp decline in public sector tax revenues threatens to disrupt development plans on a number of fronts, and the convention center project looms as a significant example.
“The long-term bonds for the convention center expansion were expected to be secured by 3 cents of the county’s Tourist Development Tax,” according to a memo to county CFO George Tablack from the Public Resources Advisory Group of St. Petersburg, a consulting firm which advises Broward County on funding needs.
Cohen had no date certain for resuming the portions of the project placed on hold.
The county lost a considerable amount of convention business when it elected to close the center in February during the redevelopment project. As of last summer, officials were not expecting to conduct any convention events from February 2020 through November 2021.
County Commissioner Tim Ryan, whose district includes the convention center site, did not respond to a phone message left with his office.
In 2019, planners estimated the western portion of the convention center would be completed in October 2021, after which the center could reopen. That part of the project is unaffected by the delay.
The eastern portion was to be finished in January 2023 and the hotel in May 2023.
The convention center will include a massive new ballroom that can seat 5,000 for dinner at one time. Exhibition space is supposed to increase 75 percent to 350,000 square feet. Another level with 150,000 square feet could be added in the future if needed.
Craig Roulhac attaches a tag to a ballot storage bin at the Broward County Voter Equipment Center in Lauderhill on July 9. A last-minute effort by postal workers made sure 1,225 ballots made it back by the deadline.
In 2012, as part of a nationwide cost cutting move, the Postal Service closed the mail processing centers in Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke Pines and shifted the work sorting Broward’s mail to a center in Opa-locka.
Vancore said elections office workers are assigned to go to Opalocka on election days to pick up whatever ballots are there. Given what happened on Tuesday with the calls from Post Offices, “we are definitely going to make sure we have extra couriers for just such examples.”
Voter turnout in the presidential election in November will be massively higher than for Tuesday’s primaries and nonpartisan elections, and that means many more mail ballots. People are moving toward voting by mail to avoid
in person voting during pandemic.
Vancore said that puts a premium on voters who want to use the mail to return their ballots as early as they can, and not delay. “Please, people, turn them in as soon as you can.”
For people who’d rather not mail their ballots, they can be dropped off at any of the county’s 22 regional early voting sites during the 14 days of early voting leading up to the election. That can be done only during hours early voting is operating.
There are also secure drop boxes people can use for their ballots 24 hours a day at supervisor of elections offices in Fort Lauderdale and Lauderhill.
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