Convention center redevelopment: how little will city show for it?

Real Estate Weekly, August 25, 1999 by Maurice Paprin

The blight of the neighborhood that surrounds it does more than tip one off - it says it all. The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, an architectural rave in the 80's, has proven to be little more than that. This unsuccessful and inadequate site and structure have spurred absolutely no local development. We can only guess how much city and state revenue, tourist business, hotel and restaurant growth has been lost from the lack of conventions, expositions and trade show business it should be generating.

New York City, especially in the second half of this century, was always an attraction for trade shows and conventions. This activity has been one of the key elements in its economic growth. I find it very hard to understand why Mayor Giuliani seems so indifferent to the fact that the convention center, while an architectural hit in its time, is now too small to accommodate the nation's largest trade shows. Why is the Mayor not acting to take immediate, emergency action to redevelop or replace it?

Consider these distressing facts:

* New York has dropped out of the top 10 cities having available convention space.

* A recent Javits Center report showed that in 1997 the convention center was down nearly 15 percent in the number of events held there from the year before.

* The number of events at the site last year was the lowest since 1994, with only 74 events.

We cannot let this situation deteriorate further.

As we enter the next century, New York is arguably the world capital of finance and business. Does it not deserve to have an adequate showcase for business, nationally and globally? At the same time, New York has become cleaner and safer. Its hotels and restaurants and entertainment facilities offer some of the best in the world.

Right now, a proposed $700 million state initiative to improve and expand the state-owned Javits site has all but been totally ignored by the Mayor. Instead, Giuliani has proposed a non-workable plan to build a giant retractable domed football stadium, which would also offer extended convention space, on a neighboring site of the rail yards at West 31st to West 33th streets between Eleventh and Twelfth avenues. The stadium would serve as a new home for the New York Jets - now in New Jersey's Meadowlands - while at the same time be a host space for national conventions. The new arena would also replace Madison square Garden.

Both planners and financiers see this as a dream and plan without vision. Madison square Garden has recently boosted its revenues and is one of the busiest sports venues in the country. Why move it? Why replace it? Secondly, how will the Giuliani plan be financed? Will it mean a private/public initiative, or will it use taxpayer funds alone? Should taxpayer funds be used to finance the building of facilities for private owners of sports teams?

What I have proposed is that an immediate task force be set up to bring together business, labor and community to develop a plan for a new convention center. Planning for the future of the city is sorely needed generally. This issue should be at the top of the agenda.

Instead, in late June, with nothing substantive in the works to solve the space limitations of the convention center site, history appeared to be repeating itself. In a throwback to the 1980's, the City and State jointly participated in a "beauty show," a contest for 110 architects to mock up different "looks" for a "new" convention center.

It was sponsored by the Canadian Center for Architecture.

The architects were to use the same site as the "Giuliani Stadium," above the rail yards near the Javits structure. For a long time, this has been a prized target among both architects and developers. The state's economic development advisor, Charles Gargano, and Joseph P. Rose, the director of New York City's Department of Planning, were among the jurors, as were famed architects Frank O. Gehry and Philip Johnson. Five finalists were named; a winner of the contest was announced: $100,000 was awarded. Their "visions for the new West Side" will be displayed in October in Grand Central Terminal.

Now I realize that architects have great value, and I respect design contests when they are called for. But what we need now is not another architectural rave. We need a new convention center that has the functionality and expansiveness of space to accommodate a significant increase in trade show and convention volume. If this recent contest is "not just an intellectual exercise," as Commissioner Rose is quoted as saying, then organizations and planners must study the possibilities of these five designs and begin the process of sifting, winnowing and enlarging upon the offerings presented.

Solving the need for an expanded Jacob J. Javits Convention Center must include these activities:

* Planning for expanded mass transit access to the entire area.

* Planning adequate parking facilities;

* Projecting accurate needs for hotel, recreational, entertainment and park areas.

* Discussing architectural issues with the five architect finalists beyond that accomplished by city and state economic development officials.