Commission continues push for convention center

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Even with a looming recession and a poor short-term outlook for business, Nashville still needs a new convention center to stay competitive.

That's the message from the Nashville Convention Center Commission as that body continues to move forward with efforts to win community approval for a new facility. The commission has been working on the project for three years and released a study in March indicating that Nashville needs at least 400,000 square feet of convention and meeting space to lure top-tier events. The city now has 118,000 feet in the existing center, which was built in 1986.

The economics of conventions, both existing and planned, continue to be a factor in the process. While the events of Sept. 11 resulted in 64 meeting cancellations and a $5 million loss in bookings, folks within the city's tourism and convention industry think many of those shows will rebook here and that others still on the books will not alter their plans. That makes the ongoing efforts to both secure new business and work toward a new building key, says Irwin Fisher, regional vice president of sales and marketing for Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel and chair of the convention center commission.

"The convention business will bounce back," Fisher says. "The association and trade show industry has been the stable performer for Nashville for a long time, and we anticipate that will continue. We're looking at a new center that is not huge, so even if shows become smaller, we can still benefit."

Fisher adds that a convention center is a long-term project, and even with three years' work and studies in the hopper any new building in Nashville is at least six or seven years away.

"It takes 10 to 12 years to get a project like this off the ground, and we feel like we are on pace for a long-term project that the city really needs," she says. "We just want to demonstrate that we need an economic and demand generator that is going to bring larger numbers of people in, and increase the taxes that we bring to the community."

Association and convention business has been Nashville's "salvation" in the weeks since Sept. 11, says Butch Spyridon, executive vice president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, who like Fisher is heavily involved in the machinations for a new center.

"It's been shown how important those groups are to our solvency and stability in the hospitality industry," Spyridon says. "At this point, we need to stay the course. We're still pursuing our identifiable funding sources and options, and until we have that, we really don't know much else."

A new convention center also continues to draw qualified support from Mayor Bill Purcell, who has gone on record as backing a new facility if the site, price tag and community support come together.

"The mayor's position on the convention center has not changed," says Ava Philson, Purcell's press secretary. "He continues to feel that there is a need to educate the community, and to focus on the process of finding a site and having broad discussions about the plans for a new center."

Fisher and others involved in the project have met with various urban design and planning groups, and plans to address the League of Women Voters and other community-oriented groups are well under way. But even as plans are being laid for 2002, Fisher says the commission remains committed to supporting the current convention center's operations.

"We have, as everyone has since Sept. 11, been regrouping and turning our focus inward," she says. "We are making sure the current center is operating as it should, and soliciting business as it is appropriate. We want to take care of what we have, looking at short-term opportunities to make sure we are not losing any more ground."

Even with its cancellations, Nashville has fared better than other cities, a development that Fisher says should give convention center boosters confidence as they move forward.

"We have a wonderful selling message with our geographic location and economy, and we are keeping the big picture in mind," she says. "Conventions and tourism are huge players in our economy, and we are figuring out how to protect that business and continue to find ways for that business to grow."

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