The plan is to float a bond issue, using an in-place hotel roomtax for payments. Meanwhile, city officials are eying the state fora $300-million balance to finance the project, which would add170,000 sf in exhibition space, 12,000 sf to the ballroom andanother 107,000 sf of meeting space.

The task now is for the city and other boosters to convincevoters and state officials that the expansion is vital to the localeconomy and would benefit residents beyond the borders of downtown."We can't compete with other convention destinations based on ourexisting package," says Brent DeRaad, a spokesman for the GreaterPhoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau. "If we don't do anythingwith Phoenix Civic Plaza and don't build any hotel rooms ourconvention business will not only remain stagnant but willdrop."

During the past six years, some 80 conventions representing800,000 hotel room nights have cut Phoenix from considerationbecause of the limited size of the Civic Plaza, Greater PhoenixConvention and Visitors Bureau officials believe. Boosters cite therecent loss of the women's NCAA final four basketball tournament asa prime example of the types of convention business that the city'slosing because of its undersized exhibition space.