ST. LOUIS — The more than $200 million expansion of the downtown convention center is on track to open in 2024, leaders said Tuesday, promising a new era of business and tourism.
Crews have been building out the 23 loading docks, more than double what exists now, and 73,000 square feet of additional exhibit space at Ninth Street and Convention Plaza, on downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ northern edge.
The expansion, called AC Next Gen, will enable its operator, ºüÀêÊÓƵ Convention & Visitors Commission, to host at least three concurrent events — something the convention center has not been able to do before, officials said.
Together with the billions of dollars invested throughout downtown and central corridor, convention officials said they are ready to sell to event planners a story of ºüÀêÊÓƵ in renaissance.
“The table is set,†said Brian Hall, chief marketing officer for the visitors commission.
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The convention center is not a destination for most ºüÀêÊÓƵians, but some of downtown’s success hinges on it. The city’s central business district has struggled in recent years. That leaves conventions, trade shows and other events at the America’s Center Convention Complex filling rooms at hotels, seats at restaurants and crowds at area attractions with thousands of eventgoers and tourists.
Tourism officials said the region needs a newer, bigger facility in order to better compete with other cities that have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to revamp their tourism infrastructure. But the expansion here has hit hurdle after hurdle since it was first pitched in late 2018, and the project that will debut next year will be considerably smaller than what officials first envisioned.
Initially, the visitors commission pitched a multiphase expansion with 92,000 square feet of exhibit space along Cole Street, a 65,000-square-foot ballroom along Ninth Street, a new pavilion and green space, as well as other façade improvements.
But political squabbling in ºüÀêÊÓƵ and ºüÀêÊÓƵ County slowed the issuance of bonds to pay for the project. The pandemic halted business for months and tied up global supply chains that drove up costs. Interest rates spiked. Only one company bid to build the first phase.
Officials had to retool what they could build. A $30 million boost from the Rams settlement helped cover some of the funding gap. Construction finally started in May 2022.
But Hall said that despite those setbacks, the expansion is already drawing interest from groups his agency hasn't been able to reach before, though he declined to disclose which groups.
The loading docks, especially, will make events run more efficiently, he said. Truck drivers will be able to back up and turn around inside the convention center, eliminating the bottlenecks on Cole Street and making life easier for nearby residents.
A new lobby, facing Martin Luther King Drive, will allow easier access for multiple events.
A community garden, which will supply events with fresh food, is planned for 10th Street. Greenspace will replace a surface lot at Ninth Street and Convention Plaza.
Although next year will be short on events, convention officials are optimistic business will bounce back in 2025. Already, they said, they’ve booked the same number of events as they have for 2024.
And they said there’s a 57% increase in booked rooms for hotels contracted with the facility, Hall said.