CONVENTION CENTER UPGRADES COMING
Construction on Downtown facility could begin by late spring, lodging association told.
Tourism chief Kevin Kane told a lodging industry gathering Wednesday that a $55 million to $60 million first phase of convention center upgrades could be underway by early summer.
The Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau president said initial work including reskinning the 41-year-old building with stainless steel would be paid for by higher hotel and motel taxes starting Jan. 1.
The City Council in September approved increasing the city’s bed tax to 3.5 percent from 1.8 percent and creating a surcharge of $2 a room a night on stays up to 30 days.
The higher tax rate would generate an estimated $4.5 million to $4.8 million a year to go toward convention facilities. The surcharge would replace about $3 million to $4 million a year in bureau funding that will be reallocated in 2017 to FedExForum bond payments.
Mary Calorio, president of the Metropolitan Memphis Hotel and Lodging Association and general manager of Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel, said convention center improvements are sorely needed.
Convention center facilities have been a hot topic in the hotel industry for a decade. “It is something that affects each and every one of us, and it is something we all have an interest in,” Calorio said.
The project to create a streamlined, modern exterior appearance
and update interior spaces is the first leg of an ambitious plan that envisions major expansion of Memphis Cook Convention Center over 10 to 12 years.
“Hopefully, we will be under construction by late spring, early summer, if all goes well with the new administration,” Kane said.
The convention center is a city-owned facility, and mayor-elect Jim Strickland will have appointment power over the convention center’s governing board after he takes office.
Kane said officials expect the first phase to take 24 to 30 months to complete. “We’re going to try to keep our building open” during construction, he said.
The future phase would involve an estimated $500 million westward expansion, spanning Front Street and extending to the Wolf River Harbor. Proponents say a couple of convention center hotels worth $400 million in private investment would round out the project.
Kane said officials envision the main entrance of an expanded center where Poplar Avenue intersects Front Street at the Mud Island parking garage.
The expansion would have to be accomplished incrementally as other publicly financed projects such as The Cannon Center for the Performing Arts addition and Bass Pro Shops at The Pyramid are paid off.
Kane acknowledged debate over the past decade about building a new convention center elsewhere Downtown, such as south of AutoZone Park. But he said center officials concluded growing at the current site is best, in part because of investments in the area by the city, Bass Pro and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.