Empire State Development, New York State's economic development agency, has chosen a design-build team for New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center expansion. LendLease Turner will coordinate and construct the $1.5 billion project, which will be built to meet LEED Silver certification.
The choice was approved by the board of directors of the New York Convention Center Development Corp., the subsidiary of Empire State Development that owns the convention center and oversees major construction work at the facility.
"The Javits Center is one of New York State's greatest economic assets, and this project will turn this building into a 21st-century marvel, a convention center of the caliber that New York deserves," said Howard Zemsky, president, CEO and commissioner of ESD. "With these new state-of-the-art facilities, we will be able to attract the world's best conferences and events and drive economic activity throughout the region for decades to come."
"For the past 30 years, the Javits Center has fueled the Empire State's economic engines, and thanks to Governor Cuomo's vision, we will unlock this New York icon's true potential and host the most dynamic events anywhere in the world," said Alan Steel, president and CEO of the New York Convention Center Operating Corp., which runs the Javits Center. "With a recent renovation and a rapidly changing West Side neighborhood, there has never been a better time to visit the Javits Center, and this new project will showcase our spaces to new audiences for generations to come."
The expansion project will be funded through a combination of state appropriations and bonds. Being added to the center are:
• An on-site truck-marshaling facility that can hold a minimum of 229 trucks;
• 90,000 square feet of permanent exhibit space, to be combined with the existing exhibit space, to create an approximately 500,000-square-foot exhibition hall;
• 45,000 square feet of state-of-the-art meeting rooms;
• a 55,000-square-foot ballroom, the largest of its kind in the New York region;
• a green-roof terrace and pavilion accommodating 1,500 people for outdoor events;
• 27 new loading docks;
• new kitchen and food-service areas, and
• more back-of-house and administrative space.
The first phase of work, which will ready the site for the expansion, has begun.