Authority Reboots Study of Boston Convention Center's Needs

BOSTON—The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority has issued a Request for Proposals for master planning services for its 70-acre campus of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston.

The authority has rescheduled a pre-bid meeting for Aug. 22nd  at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (415 Summer St.) at 2 p.m. in Room 106. Proposals are due by noon on Sept. 20^th.

In April 2015, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker put the brakes on plans to build a 1.3-million-square-foot expansion at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. The more than $1-billion project was to add approximately 75,000 square feet of ballroom space and 335,000 square feet of convention space and was the result of recommendations by the Convention Center Partnership that included the need for a BCEC headquarters hotel due to the lack of hotel rooms proximate to the Boston convention center.

In June of last year, a report commissioned by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority by consulting firm CHMWarnick showed the lack of a major “headquarter” hotel that offers convention bookers one location with about 1,000 hotel rooms and considerable meeting space has hurt the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, as well as its sister location the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay.

The Boston Convention & Exhibition Center opened in 2004 and offers 516,000 square feet of exhibition space, 160,000 square feet of meeting space in 80 meeting rooms, a 40,000-square-foot ballroom, 62 loading docks and 2,000 parking spaces. The current facility takes up approximately 40 acres of the site acquired by the now Boston Planning Development Agency.

“It has been a dynamic and disruptive decade in our industry which has mirrored the dramatic changes that have occurred in South Boston,” says MCCA executive director David Gibbons. “This is an exciting and appropriate time for the authority to evaluate where we stand in the convention marketplace. We are asking our customers what they need and determining what we can afford in order to position the BCEC for long term success.”

The RFP is seeking proposals that will meet the needs of the BCEC's current and future customers, better integrate the BCEC into the South Boston's proximate neighborhoods, outline a financially self-sufficient building program that the MCCA regards as innovative and minimizes the impact on the environment in order to enhance its competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving convention marketplace.

In fiscal 2016, the BCEC hosted 136 events that were attended by 515,000 people that generated demand for an estimated 370,00 hotel room nights in the area and an impact of approximately $400 million in economic activity, according to the RFP.

“Boston is a premier global destination for business and tourism and the BCEC is a key catalyst to create economic activity in the city and across the region,” says John McDonnell, chairman of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. “The time is right to evaluate convention related growth opportunities on the BCEC campus to ensure its future success.”

Since Gov. Baker slammed the door on the expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, the outlook of the hotel market in Boston has changed for the better.

The MCCA notes in the RFP that the 793-room Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel, which opened on an authority ground-leased parcel on the northeast corner of the BCEC in 2006, as well as more recent additions to the area's hotel market—a 330-room Aloft Hotel and a 180-room Element Hotel—are all successful properties.

In the pipeline is a major project on the D2 parcel on Summer Street, directly across from the BCEC. In April of this year, Massport announced that Omni Hotels and Resorts was tabbed to develop a 1,054-room hotel at the site.

In the RFP, MCCA notes that those developments, “combined with robust growth in the South Boston waterfront has created the opportunity for the MCCA to reassess the potential future growth of the BCEC campus.”

BOSTON—The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority has issued a Request for Proposals for master planning services for its 70-acre campus of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in South Boston.

The authority has rescheduled a pre-bid meeting for Aug. 22nd  at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (415 Summer St.) at 2 p.m. in Room 106. Proposals are due by noon on Sept. 20^th.

In April 2015, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker put the brakes on plans to build a 1.3-million-square-foot expansion at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. The more than $1-billion project was to add approximately 75,000 square feet of ballroom space and 335,000 square feet of convention space and was the result of recommendations by the Convention Center Partnership that included the need for a BCEC headquarters hotel due to the lack of hotel rooms proximate to the Boston convention center.

In June of last year, a report commissioned by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority by consulting firm CHMWarnick showed the lack of a major “headquarter” hotel that offers convention bookers one location with about 1,000 hotel rooms and considerable meeting space has hurt the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, as well as its sister location the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay.

The Boston Convention & Exhibition Center opened in 2004 and offers 516,000 square feet of exhibition space, 160,000 square feet of meeting space in 80 meeting rooms, a 40,000-square-foot ballroom, 62 loading docks and 2,000 parking spaces. The current facility takes up approximately 40 acres of the site acquired by the now Boston Planning Development Agency.

“It has been a dynamic and disruptive decade in our industry which has mirrored the dramatic changes that have occurred in South Boston,” says MCCA executive director David Gibbons. “This is an exciting and appropriate time for the authority to evaluate where we stand in the convention marketplace. We are asking our customers what they need and determining what we can afford in order to position the BCEC for long term success.”

The RFP is seeking proposals that will meet the needs of the BCEC's current and future customers, better integrate the BCEC into the South Boston's proximate neighborhoods, outline a financially self-sufficient building program that the MCCA regards as innovative and minimizes the impact on the environment in order to enhance its competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving convention marketplace.

In fiscal 2016, the BCEC hosted 136 events that were attended by 515,000 people that generated demand for an estimated 370,00 hotel room nights in the area and an impact of approximately $400 million in economic activity, according to the RFP.

“Boston is a premier global destination for business and tourism and the BCEC is a key catalyst to create economic activity in the city and across the region,” says John McDonnell, chairman of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. “The time is right to evaluate convention related growth opportunities on the BCEC campus to ensure its future success.”

Since Gov. Baker slammed the door on the expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, the outlook of the hotel market in Boston has changed for the better.

The MCCA notes in the RFP that the 793-room Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel, which opened on an authority ground-leased parcel on the northeast corner of the BCEC in 2006, as well as more recent additions to the area's hotel market—a 330-room Aloft Hotel and a 180-room Element Hotel—are all successful properties.

In the pipeline is a major project on the D2 parcel on Summer Street, directly across from the BCEC. In April of this year, Massport announced that Omni Hotels and Resorts was tabbed to develop a 1,054-room hotel at the site.

In the RFP, MCCA notes that those developments, “combined with robust growth in the South Boston waterfront has created the opportunity for the MCCA to reassess the potential future growth of the BCEC campus.”