An expanded and upgraded Phoenix Civic Plaza is one of the top goals of Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza, who has three remaining years in office to get the job done. He does not plan to seek reelection.

Rimsza says that he will form a task force made up of city officials and state legislators to look at the return a larger convention center would generate for the city. He would like to add 1.5 million sf to the 30-year-old plaza and build a second facility adjacent to the original one, he says.

Phoenix has about $300 million to put toward the expansion of the plaza, which is about $200 million short of would be needed to complete the project. Rimsza wants the state to come up with the additional funding needed for the expansion, upgrade and new construction. So far, attempts to get the state to pay for any portion of the Phoenix Civic Plaza expansion have failed.

The task force will include members from the House and Senate, who will begin work on the project just after the Legislature's current session ends.

Phoenix officials have pined for a larger convention space for years, saying that the existing facility is just too small to attract some of the largest, most lucrative conventions. Officials also hope that the expansion of the plaza would prompt the development of a third downtown convention hotel.

Phoenix Civic Plaza has 375,000 sf of meeting space. The facility is at the corner of Third and Jefferson streets in downtown Phoenix, adjacent to Bank One Ballpark, America West Arena, the Herberger Theater, the Arizona Science Museum and Arizona Center.