SAN DIEGO-Local leaders are touting the benefits of the proposed expansion to the San Diego Convention Center, a project that would add a third building to the bay-front center and could create more than 10,000 jobs and 11 hotels, according to a study by the London Group. The study was cited by Jim Durbin, president of the San Diego Hotel Association, during a recent Urban Land Institute San Diego/Tijuana District Council breakfast presentation here at which Durbin was a panelist.

The study suggested that as many as 10,000 construction jobs would be created by the expansion, which is still working its way through the approval process, and that the hotels that could be built as a result of the expansion could generate even more construction and hotel-worker jobs as well as increase the need for employees in other businesses surrounding the new development.

“The convention center expansion benefits really do trickle down,” said Jeffrey Burg, chair of the Gaslamp Quarter Association, during the presentation.

Proponents see the expansion as necessary to attract larger conventions as well as keep current convention business from going elsewhere. According to Burg, the convention center fuels 5,000 jobs in the Gaslamp Quarter alone, and that number will grow with the expansion.

But the expansion will not only benefit the Gaslamp and East Village, said Chris Duggan of the California Restaurant Association. Large conventions correlate with a spike in business to restaurants and hotels in outlying areas of the city including Mission valley, Point Loma and La Jolla.

An expansion would also result in the need for more restaurant employees. According to a survey of the California Restaurant Association, servers at restaurants supporting the convention center make an average of $26 to $28 per hour with tips.

The convention center, which was originally built in 1989, was expanded once before in 2001. The DEIR is currently out for public review, and upon certification by the San Diego Unified Port District, the proposal will proceed to the California Coastal Commission for approval along with the port master-plan amendment.

As GlobeSt.com previously reported, the San Diego Unified Port District delayed action in January 2011 on a 500-room expansion of Hilton Bayfront San Diego, a hotel proposed adjacent to the convention center. The port was preparing to sanction a negotiating deal with Hilton regarding the expansion of the center, which at that time was expected to be completed in mid-2015.

When asked at the presentation whether San Diego should be already looking beyond this proposed expansion to yet another, Marney Cox, chief economist for the San Diego Association of Governments, cautioned that convention attendance may be declining over time and that San Diego should be looking toward “grabbing a bigger piece of the pie.” Cox suggested that instead of a fourth building, a better future plan might be to develop someplace else on the bay—like Chula Vista—and then link the use of the two projects. Burge and Duggan said they envision over time a multiple-sports complex tied into the convention center.

Tony Pauker, chair of ULI San Diego/Tijuana District Council, tells GlobeSt.com, “The convention center has been a very important driver for the downtown and overall San Diego economy. As a result, ULI believes it is important to foster an ongoing dialogue on how a third phase could positively impact the local economy and our ability to compete with other convention markets.”

Instant Insights /

Convention Center Expansion Could Create 10,000 Jobs, 11 Hotels

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