Charles Chieppo, spokesperson for the Pioneer Institute, a conservative think tank, explains to GlobeSt.com that in the final report that determined whether the state would go ahead with the project, it indicated that the facility would attract 38 shows in its first year. The facility currently has none booked for the first year and shows are usually booked from five to seven years in advance. Chieppo notes that the report also indicated that the facility would ramp up to 64 shows by the 10th year.
"This gives a sense of the magnitude of what's going on," Chieppo points out. "Clearly the die is cast here in terms of this thing being a white elephant. I don't have the answer about to do with the project but what you don't do is build a convention center."
Chieppo adds that in addition to the $800 million in capital costs for developing the center, taxpayers will be footing the bill for the interest on bonds and annual operating subsidies. Also, he notes that at this point there are no hotels in the area. Starwood Resorts & Hotels, which has been developing the proposed 1,120-room headquarters hotel that is supposed to accommodate conventioneers, has been struggling to finance the project.
Chieppo believes that the best thing would be to sell the center--which is under construction--and cut the taxpayers' loss. "Every indication is that these are permanent changes," he says. In 2001, he points out, 40% fewer people attended conventions than in 2000. The recent marketing study done on the convention center by PriceWaterhouseCoopers is flawed, according to Chieppo. It does not include 2001 data, because that was the worst year in convention center history, and there is barely a mention of the impact of the terror attacks--even though the report was seven months late because the analysts said they wanted to take that into account.
"There has never been a convention center feasibility study that says don't build it. They all come out with the same conclusion," says Chieppo. "Our best option is to cut our losses. If this was being built for the private sector, that is what we would do."
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