Council approves convention center expansion contracts

On Thursday, City Council voted to award the contract for construction and pre-construction of a refurbished and enlarged Austin Convention Center to two firms, JE Dunn Construction and Turner Construction, for up to $1.2 billion. They also directed staff to negotiate a $65 million contract with architects LMN and Page Southerland Page, called LMN/Page, for design and engineering services for the center.

Funding for the construction will be allocated from the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax and revenues from the convention center.

Although several Council members asked questions, none voted against the items. However, Council Member Vanessa Fuentes was off the dais and Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison was absent from the meeting.

After contracts are executed, LMN/Page will begin work in early 2024. According to the current timeline, the convention center is expected to close and be demolished in 2025, with the larger convention center slated to open in late 2028. The center will close after the 2025 South by Southwest and is set to reopen before the 2029 SXSW, according to news reports.

According to a city news release, the expansion “will allow the Convention Center to remain competitive in the marketplace, while also delivering a community-friendly event space that will transform the southeast quadrant of downtown.”

Convention Center Assistant Director Katy Zamesnik said the new convention center is expected to be about 710,000 square feet. The current building is 363,000 square feet. She said the new building would likely be four stories, but the exact size will be determined during the design process.

Zamesnik explained at Tuesday’s work session that it would be difficult to operate the convention center during construction and that conventiongoers would not want to attend events while construction is ongoing.

Zamesnik said the refurbished convention center would provide space for community events, but she could not predict how much space would be devoted to community activities. In that stage of the project, Zamesnik said, “We do have the potential for a public-private partnership.” She told the Austin Monitor the city had hired an engineering and advisory firm called Hayat Brown to advise them on such a partnership. She suggested there would be space in the community activities area for Austin artists and also said the convention center itself would include works from local artists.

Council Members Ryan Alter and Alison Alter both had questions for Zamesnik about the financing of the project – perhaps the largest the city has ever undertaken. Ryan Alter told Zamesnik that it was very important to keep Council and the community apprised of developments. Zamesnik told him the convention center was currently looking for a communications firm to help them keep the public informed as the project progresses. She said she expects to come back to Council with a contract for that firm early next year.

Alison Alter underscored the need for the new building to meet very rigorous environmental standards. She also expressed the hope that at some point in the future the new center would be assisting the city financially.

Bill Bunch, representing himself, told Council they should not authorize the huge expenditures the expansion will entail. He urged them to vote against approving the contracts, saying they did not have a financial analysis of future earnings. Bunch also said that the convention center has been losing money, but he offered no specifics. He predicted that the costs of the new facility would be “way more than the $1.27 billion.”

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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