Is a Columbia Convention Center expansion too risky? A new study raises questions
The Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center doesn’t lose many events because of its size, and public costs to expand the center and build an associated parking garage could prove risky, according to a study commissioned by two Columbia leaders.
Republican state Rep. Kirkman Finlay, of Columbia, and businessman Joe Taylor, who is likely to secure the District 4 seat on Columbia City Council next month, commissioned a study to analyze a public-private proposal to expand Columbia’s convention center. Taylor said the pair spent more than $10,000 of their own money on the study.
They released the findings of that analysis on Thursday morning.
Taylor, the former state Secretary of Commerce, said he is not expressly against expanding the convention center. However, he said the timing and the deal have to be right.
“I support the convention center expansion, as long as it’s the right expansion at the right time,” Taylor said. “But I also support fixing Finlay Park, putting power lines underground downtown, fixing the Columbia Canal and cleaning up the appearance of the city as a whole. (The current convention center proposal) just introduces a huge amount of risk.”
Taylor is running unopposed for the District 4 seat on city council in next month’s election.
The analysis was performed by Shefelton Associates, a firm that was founded this year by Chris Shefelton. The company seeks to “shed light on public policy positions through research and analysis to provide a better understanding to the public.” Shefleton is a former legislative analyst for Democratic state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a Columbia attorney.
Officials with the city of Columbia and Richland County have had ongoing discussions about expanding the convention center. Under the proposal, exhibit space at the convention center would go from 23,000 square feet to 95,000 square feet, and overall rentable space would double.
The public-private expansion plan includes developer Ben Arnold’s proposal to bring in three new hotels, a 1,600-space parking garage, new restaurants and office space.
Supporters say the plan could create close to 2,000 jobs.
An economic impact study in 2019 from Hunden Strategic Partners, commissioned by Columbia’s tourism and visitors authority, suggests the development could spur $7.2 billion in new spending in Columbia over three decades.
City and tourism officials have said Columbia hasn’t landed larger-scale and higher-profile events and meetings at the convention center because of limited exhibit space, and a lack of nearby full-service hotel rooms able to accommodate large blocks of meeting attendees. The Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center’s current exhibit and meeting space is smaller than those in Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Augusta and Athens, Georgia.
But the analysis commissioned by Taylor and Finlay said availability of space hasn’t been overwhelmingly cited as a reason the convention center lost business. According to numbers from the convention center included in the 2019 Hunden analysis, the center lost out on 746 events since 2013. Of those, 208 were lost because of date availability, and 73 were lost because of event cancellation. “Space availability” was was listed as the reason for 25 lost events. And there were two events, which would have brought in a collective 25,000 people, lost because the convention center is “too small,” according to the study. The largest listed reason for lost events, according to the Hunden analysis, was “unknown,” at 361 events.
Bill Ellen, the president and CEO of Experience Columbia SC tourism and convention authority, told The State for a July story that the convention center has been drawing an average of nearly 400 events annually for the last several years.
The study commissioned by Finlay and Taylor also says the economic feasibility of the would-be convention center project would rely on “exceptionally optimistic” new levels of attendance. For instance, convention center attendance was 132,000 in 2018 and 192,000 in 2017.
The Hunden analysis, which has been used to support expanding the convention center, suggests an immediate attendance bump to 343,000 in the first year of an expanded center, going up to 385,000 by year 10.
“These predictions, unlikely as they are, are a necessary condition to generate revenue to make this project remotely feasible,” the Shefelton study says.
While hotels and other commercial aspects of the project would be privately funded, there would need to be significant public investment in the convention center project, as well. The cost for the expansion of the convention center itself would be $70 million, with the money likely coming from tourism development funds, accommodations taxes and other city or county dollars.
And, per Shefelton’s analysis, the ultimate public cost of a parking garage would likely be at least $65 million, but could range up to more than $200 million when considering principal, interest, administrative fees and other factors over 30 years, though the garage also would generate parking revenues.
Neither the Columbia City Council nor the Richland County Council have voted on expansion of the convention center, though talks have continued.
The city sought help from the state government to help cover the public cost. The city hoped to receive $19 million out of the statewide budget in this new fiscal year, which began July 1. Instead, it got $9 million — though even that amount was briefly jeopardized. Convention center supporters, including Ellen and Mayor Steve Benjamin, said in July they were thankful for the help from the state, though disappointed that more money wasn’t committed.
Back in June, Benjamin blamed Finlay for the allocation being cut. Finlay fired back, saying the city had poor lobbying efforts when pushing for the state budget earmark. The two men ran against each other for mayor in 2010 when Benjamin was first elected.
Finlay on Thursday continued to say that he didn’t have enough information about the project earlier this year when the state budget earmarks were being considered.
“When this proposal came to the South Carolina General Assembly, I asked for two weeks for numbers,” Finlay said. “Anything that could explain, justify or define it. I gave up on ever getting those.”
The State reached out to Benjamin and Richland County Council Chairman Paul Livingston on Thursday.
At-large Columbia City Councilman Howard Duvall said it is a “likelihood more than a possibility” that a deal would eventually be struck for a convention center expansion.
“The last council discussion we had on this was to direct our staff to verify the construction costs,” Duvall said.
The at-large councilman said he doesn’t expect city council to take a vote on the convention center item until early 2022, noting there are only a handful of council meetings remaining in 2021.
This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 3:14 PM.
