Convention Center Expansion

[GoldenBoot]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Good article. Dellworld left a huge hole in the convention calendar for 2017 but by 2018 it should be pretty well filled in by smaller conferences and single hotel groups. Demand for Austin continues to be huge and we can keep replacing conventions that outgrow us pretty much ad infinitum -- or until the market for Austin bottoms out, which it will do eventually.

At the same time it's obviously a solid argument for ACC expansion, because boy howdy, Dellworld still represents a crap ton of revenue for downtown hotels, which will all now go to Vegas instead. Boooo.

Good article? They left out a huge piece of information as to why the event is being moved (which, by the way, WAS pointed out in the beginning of September by the Business Journal).

Dell had 6,500 people show up for their DellWorld event in May 2015. EMC had more than 12,000 people show up for their annual event, in Vegas, that same year (2015). Difference...Dell and EMC are one company now. The ACC cannot currently support a conference with more than 20,000 attendees (which is the 2016 combined estimate for DellWorld and EMC's meetings).

Moving it to Vegas was logical.

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Good article? They left out a huge piece of information as to why the event is being moved (which, by the way, WAS pointed out in the beginning of September by the Business Journal).

Dell had 6,500 people show up for their DellWorld event in May 2015. EMC had more than 12,000 people show up for their annual event, in Vegas, that same year (2015). Difference...Dell and EMC are one company now. The ACC cannot currently support a conference with more than 20,000 attendees (which is the 2016 combined estimate for DellWorld and EMC's meetings).

Moving it to Vegas was logical.

All true, but as the Statesman article points out, SXSW manages to pull off something several magnitudes larger by sprawling into other venues in the city and into hotels, which Dell/EMC doesn't formally do.

[LoneStarMike]

A couple of exterior renderings that I haven't seen before:







These came from a presentation made to the Downtowm Commission on November 16th.

http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=266739

There are some other renderings at the link as well.

I'm assuming the Marriott isn't shown in the first image because it's a rendering from Gensler (who is designing the convention center expansion - a City of Austin project) while the hotel is being designed by HKS and being paid for by private developers. The hotel is shown in other renderings in the presentation.

[the Genral]

That is a very nice design. It would certainly elevate the current convention center and bring life to the area sans convention activity. I do like the contrast of the old with new instead of trying to match it up. This would get my vote. I do wish there were bigger plazas up against the center.

[We vs us]

Wow, great find! Thanks!

[brando]

No update, sorry! Zimmerman was the councilmember that was most opposed to the convention center expansion when it was discussed earlier this year. Things might progress a little further now that he is out of office but there was still some other skepticism in the council. It seems they feel like they have to choose between expanding the convention center and partially paying for an Erwin center replacement with UT. Since they discussed it, another hotel was announced on the block of the preferred convention center plot which was always the plan. I believe the key issues that were raised was the affect on traffic and if there was anything that would appeal to the community. The convention center proponents mentioned that they can allocate meeting space for the community but I think that was all they had at that point. I imagine they'll have more info about the issues that were raised when they come back to the council but I'm not sure when that will be.

It'll be interesting to see what they say when the Erwin Center replacement comes up again. Since they talked, UT revealed their on campus option that could either be an 18,000 seat arena which is what you would have in an arena for citywide events or something to the effect of 12,000 which you see in college basketball arenas. The option is likely contingent on if the city is going to co-fund the arena. I imagine they have ideas for an off campus option but they haven't said anything about it. Councilwoman Ora Houston would heavily push to place it in East Austin because it will help develop her district which would be far away from public transportation. BTW, none of this Erwin center talk is new information. Just thought I would bring it up since it's linked to the convention center expansion because they both can be funded by a tourist hotel/rental car tax.

[We vs us]

Adler's starting the drumbeat for a 2017 vote. The HOT increase is new (to me) but I wouldn't be surprised if that's what has to happen to make it work.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ne...onvention.html

PS, worth clicking through to his original post http://austincouncilforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=862

He rolls an unspecified ARCH reform/revamp into his downtown proposals. Good to see him acknowledging the issue there, but it's not clear in the end what he wants to see happen.

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Adler's starting the drumbeat for a 2017 vote. The HOT increase is new (to me) but I wouldn't be surprised if that's what has to happen to make it work.

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/ne...onvention.html

PS, worth clicking through to his original post http://austincouncilforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=862

He rolls an unspecified ARCH reform/revamp into his downtown proposals. Good to see him acknowledging the issue there, but it's not clear in the end what he wants to see happen.

Adler probably doesn't know either, but he is hoping to get a discussion going. Any discussion about the ARCH could get the ball rolling towards an eventual relocation.

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Adler probably doesn't know either, but he is hoping to get a discussion going. Any discussion about the ARCH could get the ball rolling towards an eventual relocation.

Agreed. I was glad to see it brought up one way or another.

[The ATX]

Here's the latest:

https://communityimpact.com/austin/c...sed-expansion/

[The ATX]

Here's the info for the 02/25 Town Hall meeting about the expansion. I suspect the haters will show up in full force. That tends to be how such meetings go.

https://communityimpact.com/austin/c...r-february-25/

[We vs us]

Came across some details about the proposed expansion that I hadn't heard before, mostly about elements ACC/CVB would like to see addressed in the package:

-- possibly rolling a new fire station into the design.
-- possibly revitalizing Palm Park and Brush Square Park
-- rolling those historic houses on 3rd St between Red River and Waller Creek into some sort of ACC usage scheme. These are the same houses that Manchester had looked in to moving across 3rd St to free up more space on the Moonshine Grill block.

https://www.austinmonitor.com/storie...n-center-plan/

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Came across some details about the proposed expansion that I hadn't heard before, mostly about elements ACC/CVB would like to see addressed in the package:

-- possibly rolling a new fire station into the design.
-- possibly revitalizing Palm Park and Brush Square Park
-- rolling those historic houses on 3rd St between Red River and Waller Creek into some sort of ACC usage scheme. These are the same houses that Manchester had looked in to moving across 3rd St to free up more space on the Moonshine Grill block.

https://www.austinmonitor.com/storie...n-center-plan/

All that would be a ploy to get more community support. The haters are going be loud on this one. Revitalizing Palm Park is a good idea. It's a crappy place right now.

[lzppjb]

I would be so happy if Brush Square was revitalized. I don't like that the fire department is there. If that happens, then we only have 1 more historic square to get back (unlikely to happen anytime soon).

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

I would be so happy if Brush Square was revitalized. I don't like that the fire department is there. If that happens, then we only have 1 more historic square to get back (unlikely to happen anytime soon).

This would be so wonderful to actually return to having our four town squares.

[We vs us]

In conjunction with whatever CapMetro is going to do to the downtown rail statio -- among other things, close a portion of 4th St to traffic -- a revitalized Brush Square actually makes a lot of sense, sooner rather than later.

And worth noting that Brush Square gets used as adjunct meeting and event space during our largest conventions. I'm thinking of SXSW, but also the recent Tableau citywide, among others. Would be great to have it cleaned up and refocused a bit. We could get a whole lot more use (and revenue) out of it.

[drummer]

I agree that Brush Square would absolutely make sense in getting revitalized. I skimmed the above posts but didn't see (or notice at least) specific mention of where the fire station would go...did I miss something?

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by drummer

I agree that Brush Square would absolutely make sense in getting revitalized. I skimmed the above posts but didn't see (or notice at least) specific mention of where the fire station would go...did I miss something?

It was in the article I posted. They're tossing around the idea of somehow including a new station in the new CC building. I assume if that happens then they vacate the Brush Square station.

[lzppjb]

Welp. The fire station in Brushy Square was apparently added to the National Register of Historical Places in 2000. And it houses the Fire Department Museum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin...Fire_Station_1

I was hoping the building would get torn down and the square could look something like Republic Square. Maybe they could at least get rid of the parking lot and we'd have half of the square back.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

Welp. The fire station in Brushy Square was apparently added to the National Register of Historical Places in 2000. And it houses the Fire Department Museum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin...Fire_Station_1

I was hoping the building would get torn down and the square could look something like Republic Square. Maybe they could at least get rid of the parking lot and we'd have half of the square back.

Although we wouldn't get Brush Square back entirely, this is likely what would happen in tandem with shutting down the firehouse services from the station and turning it over entirely to the Museum.