BOSTON
Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick has signed legislation that authorizes the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) to move forward with an expansion of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) in the South Boston Waterfront.
The new law authorizes a 1.3 million-square-foot-expansion of the BCEC, including substantial additions to its exhibit and meeting space, and a second, larger ballroom that will potentially allow the MCCA to attract larger events and host simultaneous events, which is expected to significantly increase economic impact in the region while creating thousands of new jobs.
The expansion also includes a plan to create new public space that will contribute to the growing vitality of the South Boston Waterfront. Funding for the $1 billion expansion will be supported by the existing Convention Center Fund, which was created in 1997 to pay for the construction and operations of the BCEC.
The Convention Center Fund revenues consist of existing tourism-based fees and taxes, none of which will need to be increased to fund the expansion project. The legislation was co-sponsored by State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry and State Representative Nick Collins.
Top Five Campaign
The BCEC expansion is part of the MCCA’s Top 5 campaign, which was announced in 2009 and seeks to move Boston from a top 10 meetings and conventions destination into the top five, allowing Massachusetts to increase its share of the $280 billion U.S. meetings industry.
The expansion will allow the BCEC to host overlapping, multiple and larger-scale events. The MCCA has projected that with expansion the BCEC will host 15 to 20 more major events per year and generate an additional $184 million in economic impact annually.
The Top 5 campaign also calls for an increase in the number of hotel rooms near the BCEC. Two new mid-priced hotels–Starwood brands, Aloft and Element–are currently under construction by local developer CV Properties on D Street across from the BCEC.
In addition, Massport and the MCCA have teamed to develop a more than 1,000-room headquarters hotel on Massport-owned land on Summer Street. A Request for Qualifications to select a developer for the headquarters hotel was released in April 2014, and submissions are currently under review. A developer is expected to be selected by the end of 2014. Funding for the headquarters hotel was not included in the BCEC expansion legislation.
In total, the BCEC expansion, the mid-priced hotels and the headquarters hotel projects are expected to create 4,700 construction jobs and 2,100 permanent jobs while generating $716 million in annual economic impact and $41 million in tax benefits for Boston and the Commonwealth.
More About the MCCA and Boston Meetings
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority owns and oversees the operations of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass., and the Boston Common Parking Garage.
The BCEC and Hynes have earned a rare gold standard from the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC), making Boston only the fourth city in North America and the 12th worldwide to have been awarded this top standard, the highest certification level a convention facility can achieve under strict AIPC guidelines.
In 2013, the MCCA hosted 254 events at the BCEC and Hynes with 770,000 attendees, generating 462,000 hotel room nights and $620 million in economic impact. For more information, visit www.massconvention.com.
