City lags in luring visitors

CVB’s Kane cites loss of conventions

Memphis is losing the struggle to lure large conventions here as corporate and nonprofit groups take their annual gatherings to Nashville and other cities that have made huge investments in their convention center and hotel infrastructure.

That’s the message Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Kevin Kane delivered Tuesday to a City Council committee that invited him to discuss the nonprofit agency’s public financing and operations.

“We are heading toward becoming functionally obsolete,’’ Kane told the council’s Audit Committee as a circle of TV news cameras whirred.

The discussion of the taxpayer-funded CVB’s finances included no reference to an ongoing controversy about perceived conflicts of interest involving Kane’s co- ownership of four popular nightclubs and restaurants on Beale Street, which is heavily promoted by the CVB.

Council Audit Committee

chairman Lee Harris invited Kane to appear before the committee, and Kane, the face of Memphis tourism, came well prepared.

As aides lugged in a box of handouts for council members, Kane discussed the history of the CVB, which operates on $7.8 million in local hotel-motel bed taxes, and the hole the city now finds itself in when competing for convention business.

Kane said Memphis is falling far behind Nashville, which just opened a $585 million convention center. Memphis’ deficit involves the inadequate and aging Cook Convention Center and also the city’s lack of large hotels to accommodate groups that want to stay under one roof. Memphis has just five hotels that have 300 or more rooms, he said.

“These two things need to be addressed sooner than later,’’ Kane said.

Nashville’s gleaming Music City Center, which opened in May, contains 1.2 million square feet — nearly 3.5 times larger than the Cook Convention Center, which opened in 1974.

“That convention center in Nashville was an absolute game changer for them,’’ Kane said.

Kane found a sympathetic audience in the council, which agreed the city is going to have to act at some point to address the problem. But the question remains: How?

Saying the city faces a “precarious situation,’’ Councilman Harold Col- lins said he plans to present some “opportunities for us to study this’’ to the council.

Councilman Shea Flinn reminded the group that a study a few years ago put a $625 million price tag on a new convention center, and he asked Kane what stopgap measures might be taken in the meantime “to keep treading water.’’

Kane said his agency and a group of businessmen appointed by Mayor AC Wharton have begun discussing that. “The good news is that there’s a dialogue and this is on everybody’s radar screen,’’ he said.

The council discussion devoted not a word to the controversy involving Kane’s Beale Street interests. Kane, 56, has been in the spotlight since authorities briefly shuttered one of his businesses, Club 152, in May for illegal drug sales. Kane has a 20 percent ownership interest in Club 152 and three other Beale Street establishments.

Perspiring in the glare of TV lights as the news media asked questions after the meeting, Kane stayed on point that Memphis, despite its struggles, can turn the corner.

“Just last year we had our best year at that convention center as far as activity,’’ Kane said. “We will find a way to compete. There’s a lot of markets in the hospitality industry. Memphis is a much-desired destination. People love Memphis. It’s a sexy sell. It’s got a great brand name to it. The music is a great hook. We’re a great leisure town. ... So we’ve got a lot to build upon.’’