Los Angeles Deserves a World-Class Convention Center

The City of Los Angeles has deferred maintenance and put off expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center for over a decade. Six months ago, with LA 28 induced urgency and the support of Mayor Bass, nearly every member of the City Council (except for Councilmember Rodriquez) voted to move the modernization of the facility forward. Small businesses in our neighborhood, tourism leaders, labor unions, and residents of Los Angeles advocated for this project, and we celebrated our win. But because of the recent wildfires, the City is reevaluating its options.

Over the last 10 years, a compelling reason always emerges to pause and reconsider before moving forward with this project. Indictments, recessions, pandemics, disasters, and budget woes are valid excuses, but they don’t uniquely imperil Los Angeles. A persistent state of crisis is seemingly the status quo in dynamic urban places. And yet our peers continue to invest in what Bloomberg calls “an arms race” to lure meetings and convention business. While other cities race to the finish line to secure an economic victory, we consistently struggle into our starting blocks.

I have no doubt that but for the wildfires, the City would have done their best to plow ahead with this project. But the wildfires also showed us just how important the tourism and visitor industry are to the local economy. People stayed away or stayed home believing most of the city to be in a state of devastation or have unbreathable air, and our businesses and employees suffered. To rebuild, we must continue to invest, or we won’t have a government budget capable of supporting the rebuilding effort or any of our other community mandates, like working streetlights.

Our visitor economy can’t afford to continue to fall further behind other cities. The path forward that I believe the City must pursue, is a phased approach to modernizing the Convention Center and Gilbert Lindsey Plaza, such that the project could be fully delivered by a date certain post-Olympics, allowing LA Tourism to book new business in a world class facility before the end of this decade. 

There are numerous examples of projects built in phases to allow for primary tenants or future events to continue. The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York underwent a significant renovation and expansion, increasing its size from 1.9 million to nearly 6 million square feet in two phases. The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, as part of a five-year capital improvement plan, renovated its West Building. The Las Vegas Convention Center is undergoing a $600 million renovation of its legacy campus that is strategically planned to accommodate and minimize disruption to scheduled trade shows.  The Colorado Convention Center's Phase II expansion more than doubled its size from 1 million to 2.4 million square feet. All of these projects were designed to support the increasing demands for conventions and trade shows while allowing ongoing events to proceed during construction.

The Caesars Superdome in New Orleans underwent a phased renovation process to allow concerts, festivals, and the New Orleans Saints to continue playing home games while preparing the venue for Super Bowl LIX. The $560 million transformation was strategically executed over a five-year period, with construction teams working around the clock to minimize disruptions to major events while the facility underwent significant upgrades in preparation for hosting the Super Bowl. M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, is undergoing a $430 million renovation in three phases. The phased approach ensures that the team can continue playing home games without interruption. Dignity Health Sports Parkbegan a four-year upgrade plan in December 2024, set to conclude in 2027. The renovations are scheduled in phases, with initial construction completed ahead of the 2025 MLS season, ensuring the team can utilize the stadium during ongoing improvements. The Toronto Blue Jays initiated a major $400 million renovation of Rogers Centre, divided into two phases during consecutive off-seasons (2022–2023 and 2023–2024). This phased approach enabled the team to continue its regular season games while upgrades are made during the off-season periods.

A phased modernization of the Convention Center would allow the tourism and hospitality community to begin selling Los Angeles now anticipating an increase in demand post Olympics. A world class Convention Center will allow us to capture significant residual impact of hosting the World Cup, NBA All Stars, Super Bowl and the Olympics. That reverberation can sustain and grow local businesses and investment for decades.

From the Lakers to the Dodgers, Los Angeles is a city of championship pursuits. At our current pace, we’re barely angling for a participation trophy in the race to compete for a strong convention and visitor economy. But Los Angeles is such a compelling city that all we need to do to catch up and surpass our peers, is make sure we get out of our starting blocks before the games are over.