Los Angeles Proceeds With Convention Center Expansion

The Los Angeles Convention Center’s long journey to expansion approval is seemingly nearing an end.

On Friday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to proceed with the latest plans to expand the downtown L.A. building with 190,000 square feet of new exhibit hall space, nearly 40,000 square feet of meeting space and a nearly 100,000-square-foot multi-service room, Commercial Observer reported.

The city is expected to cough up just over $2.6 billion via taxpayer money from its general fund, according to the Los Angeles Times. The advancement of the expansion plans comes after more than 10 years and millions of public dollars spent on planning and revisions.

Mayor Karen Bass, several City Council members and some labor unions supported the expansion, saying the project invests in the future of Los Angeles as it deals with a budget deficit, insufficient tourism infrastructure and slow economic growth.

“At the end of the day, I’m voting with my constituents, because I do believe in downtown,” Council member Ysabel Jurado said before the vote, according to CO. “And a strong downtown… needs this anchor in our communities to make sure we can rise again and rise to the occasion… It’s about lifting up the entire city. And if we want a balanced budget and a thriving city, we need to invest.”

When all is said and done, the expanded Convention Center is expected to generate $652 million in general tax fund revenue over 30 years, as well as more than $150 million in annual visitor spending. In the construction period, 13,300 new jobs are expected to be created, with an additional 2,153 annual new jobs after the expansion is completed, per CO.

The city hopes to complete the first phase of the project in March 2028, four months ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony that July. Olympic and Paralympic events are slated to take place at the Convention Center, so if the project’s first phase is delayed, they’ll have to take place elsewhere. The full expansion project is expected to be finished in 2029.

— Chris Malone Méndez