San Francisco’s Customer Advisory
Council, a body of 40 professional meeting planners
responsible for a significant volume of group business at the
Moscone Center, has threatened to take their meetings elsewhere
unless much-needed repairs to the convention facility are attended
to immediately.
In March, the council sent a letter to
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom strongly urging the city to
dedicate $5.8 million to repairing the center’s aging North (opened
in 1992) and South (1981) buildings. (Moscone West, the newest
addition to the center, opened in 2003.)
CAC members believe the city needs to
improve its convention facility in order to stay competitive.
According to Cele Fogarty, vice president of convention and trade
show services for Chicago-based SmithBucklin Corp. and a CAC
member, “They’ve talked about it for a while, but they haven’t done
anything about it. Since we’ve been around long enough to witness
the changes over the years, we know there’s a big difference from
what it used to be.”
Though the occupancy rate at Moscone is
at a healthy 79 percent (the facility has approximately 700,000
square feet of exhibit space), Fogarty remembers the more
prosperous, pre-9/11 years. “It used to be a great, flexible
space -- a premier center,” she said. “Now the city is falling a
bit behind.”
The CAC’s recommendation is to replace
the air walls in the Esplanade Ballroom, Hall E, and the East and
West Mezzanine Rooms, as well as to upgrade the center’s
air-ventilation system.
Joe D’Alessandro, president of the San
Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, believes the group’s
concerns will be taken seriously. “The mayor heard them loud and
clear, and he’s committed to improving the center, but it’s
difficult to say if it will happen in the next few months,” he
said.
The bureau estimates that the center’s
economic impact for the 2007 fiscal year was $790 million. All
parties agree that if repairs are not made, that number could
decline.