Convention and Exhibition Center.
Boston’s getting a new convention center. Hartford’s getting a new convention center. Logic says these two new structures in other New England cities could give Providence a run for its money in the convention business.
The developments, both expected to be completed within the next two years, are being monitored by convention officials here, said Jim McCarvill, executive director of the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority.
“It’s a significant issue,” McCarvill said of the emerging centers.
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However, he downplayed any sizable dent in business around here. He said it may be too early to tell, and hard to project, if the city would be impacted significantly by the competition on the horizon.
“There won’t be a major drop off in business – but that’s just one man’s opinion,” he said.
“We’re cognizant of the developments, and that there’s more competition, and we’re reacting to it the best way we can. It’s a competitive environment,” said McCarvill. “You have to make yourself the most attractive as you can. We need to make sure we put our best foot forward. … We don’t have to lose market share.”
McCarvill added that “with new products, and how customers react to them, is speculative.”
Part of reacting to such upcoming competition, he said, is protecting what the Rhode Island Convention Center already has. Therefore, he said, convention center officials here are promoting “customer loyalty” and signing existing clients to long-term agreements.
McCarvill added that another way to contend with the competition is for the city to increase its hotel space near the convention center.
He said Providence’s size, market and customer base for conventions is different, or smaller, when compared to Boston, but more on par with a city like Hartford.
Rhode Island’s neighbor to the west, Connecticut, is building what is expected to be the second-largest convention center in New England – behind Boston’s center. The Connecticut Convention Center, a 550,000-square-foot facility, is expected to be done in June 2005.
The future center is already garnering “strong interest” from regional and national meeting planners, according to H. Scott Phelps, president of the Greater Hartford Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“Hartford has been under-facilitied in the past,” said Phelps. “But we’ll be in a position now to host new, larger meetings.”
The center is expected to have more than 145,000 square feet of exhibit space, which could accommodate 800 10-foot by 10-foot booths; a 40,000-square-foot ballroom; and 25,000 square feet of meeting space, according to a press release.
The center’s steel framework is currently being constructed, said Phelps. When complete, the building will overlook Interstate 91 and the Connecticut River in downtown Hartford.
Some important selling factors in the convention business, said Phelps, are location, accessibility and affordability. Connecticut convention officials have been marketing the center and already have several bookings planned.
Phelps went on to cite some key convention numbers from the International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureau: The average convention delegate spends 3.3 days and $268 per day in a host city.
“We’re working hard to bring that convention business to our city,” said Phelps.
“The convention business brings in important dollars and we’d like to have them spent in our own backyard.”
The Connecticut Convention Center is being managed by Waterford Management, and is owned by the Capital City Economic Development Authority.
The Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) is expected to be completed by June of next year. The convention complex, on the South Boston waterfront, will be the largest in the Northeast with more than 500,000 square feet of exhibition space; 160,000 square feet of meeting space; 86 meeting rooms and a 41,000-square-foot ballroom with an adjacent 1,200-room hotel.
The center has a footprint of 850,000 square feet and 1.6 million square feet of conditioned space, according to the center’s Web site.
Boston also has the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, the World Trade Center, the Fleet Center and the Bayside Expo Center, among others, but convention officials up there have expressed interest in hosting and accommodating larger events.
The Rhode Island Convention Center features roughly 100,000 square feet of exhibit space, approximately 37,000 square feet of meeting space and 23 meeting rooms.
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