By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Convention Center expansion

Meeting planners like it. Architects don't hate it. And city officials hope it will put Cincinnati back on the map in the regional convention business.

While the public got its first look at the drawings of the $160 million expansion to the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center on Tuesday, convention and tourism officials hailed the design for its spaciousness and state-of-the-art amenities.

Its signature feature - a two-story-high sign on the western facade reading "Cincinnati" - is sure to become a local landmark.

But will it be enough to keep Cincinnati on the convention map?

"The building is great. It's absolutely beautiful," said Betsy Baugh, the manager of corporate culture for the Mason-based Luxottica Retail Group. "But it's not just the building. It's the service mentality that goes with it."

Luxottica holds about 21 corporate meetings a year. Only about four are local. Baugh said the increased size - to 750,000 square feet, with 200,000 square feet of exhibition space - would make Cincinnati a strong contender for its biggest meeting, an annual event that draws about 3,000 people, in 2008.

"Size matters," said Greg Phelps, who plans meetings for the National Ground Water Association. "Up until now, Cincinnati had, what - 150,000 square feet? Columbus has about 300,000. Most cities have at least that." Cincinnati actually has 162,000 square feet of exhibition space.

Keeping up with other Midwestern cities was one reason behind the expansion, which will cost hotel patrons an extra 4.5 percent a night in bed taxes.

Lisa Haller, the president of the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, boasted that the expanded center would feature the biggest ballroom in the Midwest.

"The key ingredient, which we heard validated from our customers today, is that the facility has tremendous flexibility," she said.

But with a sluggish economy affecting the travel industry more than most, some question whether size alone will bring in business.

"There's a debate going on in the convention center and trade show industry about whether there is over-building going on," said Michael Hughes, the research director for Tradeshow Week, an industry trade journal.

He said cities building or expanding centers should count on their investment return to take twice as long as originally predicted. To be competitive, convention centers need to look beyond bricks and mortar, to service and marketing.

"The return will come, but expect it to take longer. The convention center industry is extremely competitive."

Even with the expansion, city architects say they'll never compete for size with Las Vegas or New Orleans. Still, it's designed to expand once again, farther westward over Interstate 75.

The center will get an aesthetic makeover, with a redesigned ballroom in golden hues, a river theme throughout the hallways and more windows.

While most convention centers seem to come in a plain brown wrapper, convention delegates in Cincinnati should know they're in the Queen City, architects said.

The city's Urban Design Review Board went over the drawings Tuesday. The consensus: While some details are a bit incongruous, it works fairly well for what's essentially a 750,000-square-foot big box to hold meetings in.

Other adaptations are more practical. Coatrooms, for example, will be wired for the Internet, so conventioneers can use them.

But technology is progressing so quickly that the center risks falling behind even before the expansion is completed in 2006. City architect Mark McKillip said he doesn't want to speculate what kind of large-sized television screen will greet visitors in the main lobby, for fear that today's plasma screen will be obsolete in three years.

With or without the expansion, the main challenge of any convention bureau is to sell the city, Hughes said. Haller said that's becoming easier, with new attractions opening downtown every year.

But some meeting planners have lingering doubts about holding a convention in Cincinnati.

"Some of the crime in the area would be my biggest concern," said Phelps, of the Westerville-based National Ground Water Association. "Even driving down here today, I came through some bad areas."

Expansion's history

• Plan A: A 2000 task force appointed by Mayor Charlie Luken proposed a $325 million expansion, up and over I-75.

The plan fell through when the state said plans to realign I-75 to rebuild the Brent Spence Bridge could add another $75 million.

• Plan B: A revised $198 million plan in 2001 reached west to I-75 but not across the freeway.

Then Delta Air Lines, citing a poor post-Sept. 11 economy, pulled its $15 million naming rights commitment. Luken declared the expansion "mothballed."

• Plan C: Luken came forward with a 184,000-square-foot expansion plan in 2002. The cost: about $160 million.

Cinergy Corp. later bought naming rights for $12 million.

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com