Missing out: Durham needs a bigger convention center, which means it has to move
Consultant Robin Hunden began his presentation Thursday with a hail of compliments for Durham.
“You’re so unique and authentic as a destination,” Hunden told the City Council, praising the restaurant scene and thriving downtown.
Then came the tough love.
The Durham Convention Center, bound on a single, city block, can’t expand much in its current location, he said. The complex is within walking distance of 576 hotel rooms and can hold 1,800 people, but he said bigger events tend to bypass the Bull City.
“You’re losing business,” Hunden said.
Discover Durham reports it’s missed out on 46 events in the past five years because the convention center could not accommodate them. That adds up, the tourism bureau estimates, to a loss of $27 million in economic impact.
What a new building would require
A new building would cost nearly $315 million, estimates Hunden’s firm, which was paid $88,000 to bring a report on the feasibility of expanding the convention center.
It would also require finding 5 acres somewhere in the city, plus 2 acres for an adjoining 500-room hotel, which is what the consultants recommend.
“Should we be looking for a piece of land to lock down now?” Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton asked.
“One hundred percent,” Hunden replied. “Walkability is key. You want people to spill out into hotels, restaurants, bars, entertainment.”
‘An investment in our future’
All that expense will require significant investment by taxpayers — Hunden said local governments typically pay one-third to one-half of the cost — and sorting out how that would work is city staff members’ next task.
Some of that could be recaptured through taxes. The consulting firm projects that over 30 years, a new convention center and hotel would generate over $277 million in local tax revenue, $5 billion in spending, and 1,100 jobs.
Mayor Leonardo Williams, who owns a downtown restaurant with his wife, said expanding the convention center is something he is “laser-focused on.”
Council member Carl Rist said it would likely take a decade to accomplish.
“The actual construction time period is probably two years, but it’s all the figuring it out that takes time,” Hunden acknowledged.
Susan Amey, president and CEO of Discover Durham, said a new convention center would be an “investment in our future” and in locally owned businesses.
Expansion ‘not feasible’
The city also mulled the $93 million it would cost to renovate the existing convention center.
“Expansion in place is just not a feasible option,” Hunden said. “It would be a terrible use of public funds, in my opinion. It doesn’t move the needle.”
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