$50-Million Convention Center Project to Be Weighed

Anaheim officials tonight will consider whether to give preliminary approval to a $50-million convention center expansion project that, if rejected, could cost the city millions of dollars in lost business revenues, convention officials said.

Expansion and modernization of the 20-year-old structure is necessary to accommodate major exhibitions and shows, said Lynn Thompson, center general manager. If more exhibit space is not provided, the city is guaranteed to lose business to competing convention cities, he added.

The center currently ranks about fifth nationwide in amount of exhibit space, trailing only Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago and New York.

The expansion would include construction of a 150,000-square-foot exhibit hall and a 530-space parking structure underneath the hall. The center now occupies about 53 acres just south of Disneyland and includes three exhibit halls and 46 meeting rooms. The center has already undergone two expansions during its life, most recently in 1982.

Business Increase Predicted

The expansion would mean a major increase in business both for the center and the city, according to the environmental impact report prepared for the project.

Attendance at consumer and trade shows would more than double, from 1 million in 1986 to 2.3 million in the year 2000. It is estimated that the new visitors would generate about $4 million in city tax revenues annually.

The proposal has generated little public opposition so far. But some residents who live in neighborhoods bordering the site have voiced concerns about increased traffic and noise during and after construction.

The convention center is in the middle of an area that the city once considered for a controversial redevelopment project. Hundreds of area homeowners, fearful their property would be seized through eminent domain, successfully opposed the $2.7-billion Katella redevelopment project and vowed to scrutinize other proposed developments and expansions in the city.

Doug Kintz, president of the Anaheim HOME homeowners group, said many residents have mixed feelings about the proposed convention center expansion.

“On the one hand, we see the need for increased growth that would be good for the city overall,” Kintz said. “But on the downside, we are likely to see increased congestion in an area that is already very congested. And in the long term, I think many residents are concerned about eminent domain. If they expand on their land to the maximum now, where do they expand in the future?”

Thompson said that while the city is not now considering expansion onto property occupied by homes, it might be necessary to acquire and demolish five hotels and two restaurants on an eight-acre parcel at the corner of West Street and Katella Avenue to make room for another parking lot.

In fact, one of the major problems associated with expansion involves finding more parking space for the already overburdened facility. The center is often forced to borrow parking lots owned by Disneyland, the Anaheim Marriott and other nearby hotels.

The EIR concludes that the proposed expansion would require more than 5,700 parking spaces. The center has about 3,000 spaces but would end up with a net loss of 500 spaces after the exhibit hall and underground parking structure are built.

One option being considered--to expand the existing three-level garage next to Katella Avenue--might prove too costly, Thompson said. Another alternative that calls for building a new five-story structure on West Street near Convention Way is more feasible in the short term, Thompson said, but this option has also drawn the most resistance from residents in adjacent neighborhoods.

To pay for the project, the city would issue $62.5 million in revenue lease bonds that would be financed with money from the city’s transient occupancy tax, which generates about $5 million annually, Thompson said.

The EIR and the expansion proposal will be presented to the Anaheim Joint Powers Authority --composed of the City Council, the Anaheim Union High School District Board of Trustees and the Community Center Authority--at a 7:30 p.m. meeting in the convention center’s grand lobby.