Dallas CVB to seek $250M expansion of Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center

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Jake Dean

Dallas CVB and tourism officials will seek a major expansion of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in downtown Dallas.

Candace Carlisle

Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal

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The Dallas Convention and Visitor's Bureau and the city's tourism executives want to make the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center bigger — a lot bigger — to make it more competitive.

After a decade of reeling in more convention center business, they have plans to expand the convention center by 120,000 to 150,000 square feet, a project expected to cost upwards of $200 million to $250 million.

"We are at the point now the convention center is in need of expansion if we want to grow," Phillip Jones, president and CEO of the Dallas CVB, told the Dallas Business Journal. "Right now, we are not in the position to book a dozen large citywide groups unless we make the expansion."

Some of those unfulfilled needs include a 60,000-square-foot ballroom and exhibit hall space, as well as additional meeting spaces.

Right now, the largest ballroom at the convention center totals 29,000 square feet, which isn't big enough for some of the big meetings that are looking at Dallas (think of conventions on the scale of the Republican National Convention).

The proposed expansion also includes about $100 million of much-needed renovations to the center that will help it compete against cities such as New Orleans, San Diego and Atlanta, Jones said.

So, where would the money come from?

Jones says he plans to go to the city and ask that the hotel occupancy taxes to be increased 2 percent to fund the project. That increase would pay for the expansion and help generate more taxes for the city, he said.

From 2010 to 2012, the convention center generated $351 million to $424 million in total output. If the needed improvements are made, CVB officials say the center can up its output to an estimated $494 million.

Candace covers commercial and residential real estate and sports business.