Convention Centers on the Rise

January 13, 2025

Despite criticism of the costs, cities are doubling down on their commitment to conventions with convention center expansions and renovations.

Like the villain in a horror movie, the question of whether it’s worth the money to invest in convention centers always seems to pop up just when you thought it was finally put to rest for good. Most recently, an article in the New York Times rehashed the anti-convention-center-spend arguments city planners and promoters have been pushing back against for decades: Convention centers tend to operate at a loss, a small percentage of centers host most of the largest events, and in a newer twist, convention business still hasn’t fully rebounded from the pandemic.

But those arguments miss the forest for the trees, according to the convention industry and city planners, who say that convention centers are worth the investment because they bring all those conventioneers, and their wallets, to a city to spend on hotels, restaurants, stores and attractions.

While Robin Hunden, Founder and Chief Executive of development consulting firm Hunden Partners was quoted in the NYT article as saying that evidence of the economic benefit is uncertain, he followed up with this statement in a LinkedIn post: “It was enjoyable spending 90 minutes with the New York Times reporter educating him about our large, growing and diverse industry. It’s too bad there wasn’t more true data or context provided in the article based on what was provided. All of us interviewed provided rationale for why cities invest. The returns and impacts are massive, which we all learned the hard way during COVID when the industry was shut down and hundreds of thousands unemployed as a result. The convention and conference center industry is growing and very impactful for our cities!”

In fact, convention centers are still deemed worthy of investment by cities large and small across the U.S. Dozens of new convention centers are in the works now or in the planning stages. Convention center renovations and expansions also are booming as future RFP activity has not just caught up to, but is now outpacing 2019 levels, according to the latest barometer from Oxford Economics for the Events Industry Council.

Here are just a few of the convention center projects in the works as of January 2025:

The first phase of a $560 million expansion project of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando will add a new meeting space, a ballroom and a new entrance to the North-South building on Convention Way. The second phase would bring an additional 200,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space to the building, while also incorporating connectivity between the North and South Concourses. When completed, both phases will provide a grand total of 1.15 million square feet of exhibit space in the North-South Building.
A $600 million renovation of Las Vegas Convention Center already has given the center’s South Hall an outdoor plaza, an enhanced lobby and pre-function space, and a state-of-the-art boardroom. Work on the North Hall is in progress.
A $1.3 billion expansion project of the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, when completed, will give the center more than 1,200,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 350,000-square-foot contiguous exhibition hall, a new 65,000-square-foot waterfront ballroom, new technology and dining concepts, enhanced water taxi access and an iconic waterfront plaza with public access.
Dallas’ Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is undergoing a $3.7 billion expansion project that bring the center’s total exhibit space to 800,000 square feet. The completed project also will result in 260,000 square feet of breakout space, 170,000 square feet of ballroom space, a newly renovated arena and theater, and an enhanced, walkable entertainment district with premier entertainment and restaurant experiences.

While the naysayers likely will continue to criticize these investments, cities also likely will continue to defend the expenditures, saying the expansion and renovation activity is well worth the cost when the dividends are enhanced competitiveness, improved guest experiences, and the boost to their local economies anticipate as they draw more visitors to spend in their downtowns.