The convention center at 20: energizer and economic engine

Next Monday will mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.

Except for traffic reports on the radio or seeing hundreds of badge-wearing convention attendees on the streets of downtown Seattle on any given day, most residents would have little reason to acknowledge the convention center's existence.

Over the course of the past two decades, this state-owned enterprise has played a key role in energizing the downtown core and has been quietly meeting its mandate of significant economic development and job creation.

In the early 1980s, a group of community leaders from the public and private sectors conceived the notion of building a convention center in Seattle to foster new economic growth.

In 1982, with the support of the Legislature, a public nonprofit corporation was established and a nine-member board of directors was appointed to acquire the land and to design, construct, promote and operate the convention center. Sites at Seattle Center, next to the Kingdome stadium and a location adjacent and over Interstate 5 were evaluated.

The early years were far from easy and success was hardly guaranteed. Funding, locating and building the convention center proved to be filled with challenge and controversy. Nearly 120 public meetings were held in a six-month period regarding site considerations; the unique design of the building provided numerous construction headaches, and the private co-developer went bankrupt. Despite these setbacks, the facility opened on time and just barely over budget.

Once open, the convention center required time to establish its client base and get events in the books, accruing a debt of some $30 million. Although the birth was painful, the gamble to build the convention center would pay off and the anticipated benefits did follow.

Since the convention center opened in 1988, Washington's economy has received more than $3.2 billion in out-of-state convention delegate spending, with nearly $180 million going to the state's general fund. Other beneficiaries of the sales taxes paid by convention attendees are King County, the city of Seattle, Seattle Public Schools, the regional transit authority and arts and culture organizations.

The convention center also provides $4.5 million in marketing funds annually to the state's tourism industry. Hundreds of people are directly employed at the center and by its in-house contractors, and thousands more work in the hotels, restaurants, retail stores and travel-related businesses that serve the convention and visitor industries.

This trend is poised to continue as the convention center has hundreds of events on the books through 2019, bringing with them millions of dollars in additional convention-related revenues.

In its first year of operation, 80 events were held at the convention center; last year, 601 events came to Seattle.

As attendance numbers have grown over the years, so has the center. In 1991, 76,000 square feet of additional ballroom and meeting space were added. A $200 million expansion in 2001 essentially doubled the center's size by expanding across Pike Street.

In January, the convention center obtained the former Museum of History & Industry site at 800 Pike Street, adding another 138,000 square feet of total space. This purchase effectively consumes all of the available space for the convention center at its current site and begins a process of evaluation and planning for future growth.

Unlike most other convention centers, Seattle's remains open to the public even if no meeting is under way inside, providing access to retail shops and more than 100 works of art on display in the Galleria. By adding two additional acres of landscaping adjacent to Freeway Park, the center helps heal the gash created by I-5.

This convenient corridor is utilized by nearly half a million people who pass through the facility each year on their way between their homes on First Hill and downtown. Funding from the convention center has created or renovated more than 1,300 units of affordable housing, including conveying the landmark Eagles Building to Housing Resources Group and A Contemporary Theater.

It is indeed rare to find any government-owned project that is not only self-sustaining, but also reduces the tax burden for state residents and yet costs those same taxpayers nothing to operate. Marking the 20th anniversary of the Washington State Convention & Trade Center highlights just how important the tourism industry is to the economic future of our state.