Austin prepares for major expansion of convention center

The Austin Convention Center at 500 E. Cesar Chavez Street.
(PHOTO: CBS Austin file image)

CBSAustin
Fri, May 19th 2023, 1:39 PM CST

Austin is planning to make its downtown convention center a lot bigger.

The city will soon start looking for a professional team to design and engineer the huge renovation at Chavez and Trinity streets that would almost double the building's size.

“With an inadequate convention center, we lose out to competitors and, consequently miss out on millions of dollars for our Austin community. With a bigger convention center, the economic impact to our city is estimated to jump to over $750 million annually, from the current $468 million. A larger facility also means more travelers to Austin and jobs in the Austin hospitality industry,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said in a statement announcing the project.

The cost is expected to be $1.6 billion that would be paid for by a special tax that people pay when they stay in hotels (the municipal Hotel Occupancy Tax) and from money the convention center makes.

The plan is to start work in 2025 and open the new, bigger convention center in 2029.

Tom Noonan, president and CEO of Visit Austin, says Austin needs a bigger Convention Center to compete with other big cities. “In the last few years, we’ve seen roughly 50% of our Convention Center leads lost due to the lack of space or availability, so we know the demand for a new center is there. This new center will allow us to be more competitive within the state and with our major national competitors," he said.

The Austin Convention Center website will have updated information on the timeline of the redevelopment.