AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin often loses out on tourism dollars, because the convention center in Downtown Austin is too small to host conferences, according to researchers. Austin City Council members are now considering a new University of Texas report examining the future of a vibrant convention district.
- Report says convention center is too small
- The city losing out on tourism dollars
- Report proposes several options for the future
In the more than 275-page report, Frameworks for Placemaking: Alternative Futures for the Austin Convention District, researchers called the Austin Convention Center a “linchpin” in the city’s overall economy. It noted that nearly 15 percent of jobs in the Austin area are in the leisure and hospitality industry, up from 11 percent in 2000.
Those same researchers said the building, built in 1992 and expanded in 2002, is “showing its age.” The UT group, which the City Council commissioned in 2017, did not just look at revamping the building itself, but also considered how to revitalize the surrounding area to become more inviting to tourists and residents.
“The convention center needs to be a balance between bringing people into the city, capitalizing on Austin as a destination in terms of tourism and contributions to the economy, but it also needs to serve the citizens in the city,” Dean Almy principle investigator said.
Almy is the director of the graduate program of urban design in the UT School of School of Architecture.
Researchers from the School of Architecture and McCombs School of Business noted in the report that while the convention center is in the middle of rapidly growing corridors, it remains a “dead zone.”
“There is at least the perception that this section of the city is relatively lifeless, in some areas,” Almy said. “People are trying to get from Six Street to Rainey Street across a fairly vacuous territory. But with all the investment in Walnut Creek and Brush Square Park and potentially the Convention Center, we have the ability to completely turn this section of the city around.”
The team presented their findings to the City Council, Tuesday, at the Austin Central Library. The report examines the potential economic impact of expanding the convention center.
“The convention center, right now, is one of the smallest for major cities, and they turn away convention business almost every single day,” Council Member Jimmy Flannigan said. “These are conventions that would bring additional tax dollars into the city, through sales taxes, and through supporting an industry that represents thousands of jobs in our community. Folks that don't have to have college degrees, folks that can get these jobs and start to build a life in Austin.”
Researchers outline several scenarios in the report, from leaving the building as it is and relying on private development to completely replacing the convention center and building higher. Some ideas include expanding to the west side of Trinity Street, adding a private mixed-use tower, and incorporating public plazas and pedestrian passages.
Scenarios 1 & 2:
"These establish the base of the existing condition and private development that is likely to take place in coming years if there is no convention center expansion."
Scenario 3:
"This entails a new convention center facility west of Trinity Street, topped with a private mixed-use tower."
Scenarios 4.1 & 4.2:
"A new convention center facility could be built west of Trinity Street, albeit with differences such as a pedestrian extension of Second Street through the site via a covered retail galleria, and private development on its own parcel. The second phase entails demolishing the original 1992 portion of the convention center and replacing it with a new facility, public space, and private development."
Scenarios 5.1 & 5.2:
"This entails building a new convention center facility west of Trinity, but at the largest scale possible, with minimal private development in the first phase. This then allows total demolition of the existing facility east of Trinity, with subsequent construction of another convention building and private development."
“Any of those scenarios that we projected were all about public space, connectivity, public benefit, how do the different organizations of the city use this space, either internally for community programming, or externally as sort of great places for people to gather,” Almy said.
Some council members are optimistic the increase in sales taxes, and, more so, the hotel occupancy taxes will cover the costs of the expansion, which in some scenarios could cost the city about $1 billion.
“The opportunity to have outdoor plazas, that are park space to connect to Waller Creek, that are pedestrian plazas that will reconnect Second Street all the way over to Palm Park, these are assets that will benefit the entire city, but funded through hotel occupancy taxes,” Flannigan said.
In the report, researchers wrote,“The incremental tax increases would not be sufficient to cover the capital costs of such an expansion. Whether or not such an expansion is justifiable therefore depends on the value one assigns to other benefits, such as enhancement to Austin’s ‘brand value,’ a dramatic improvement in circulation and public space in the Southeast Quadrant of Downtown Austin, and the importance of attracting a greater number of influential business travelers to Austin.”
The UT group said they felt it was not their role to make a recommendation regarding how the City Council should move forward.
“What we wanted to do is provide a whole raft of information, so that the discussion that is had in the public, with the council and the citizens of Austin are informed discussions, that they understand the real perimeters,” Almy said. “It’s important that the citizens of the city have a voice in the this. It’s not saying what you should do, but it’s us saying, ‘Here are the implications of your choices.”