Twelve months ago San Diego’s Comic Con International – a massive pop-culture event that floods the city with free-spending visitors – revealed it was considering moving to another city, namely Anaheim or Los Angeles.
The news came as the show hit the San Diego Convention Center’s (SDCC) capacity limits of 130,000 visitors.
The LA Convention Centre (LACC) courted the show’s organisers using proximity to Hollywood Studios, while Anaheim used Disneyland as its gambling chip.
However, San Diego had something up its sleeve: a US$753m expansion plan that would add 21,000sqm of exhibition space, 9,400sqm of meeting space, the biggest ballroom (7,500sqm) in a public facility on the West Coast of the USA, and up to 500 new hotel rooms.
Aiming for a 2015 completion, the new facilities will be a long way from a simple box-and-parking-lot job: the venue will also boast a five-acre (20,200sqm) green roof doubling as a public promenade with a view of the bay. Also on top will be a concert and entertainment venue, capable of accommodating an audience of up to 10,000. With the venue already sitting next to San Diego’s historic Gaslamp quarter, it aims to be a cultural centre as well as an events hub.
“The philosophy is to make sure it embraces the location and activity of the waterfront by having a public art and performance venue overlooking the bay,” says Steve Johnson, VP of public affairs for the San Diego Convention Center Corporation. “It will be the largest concentration of park space in downtown along the water. It gives folks multiple reasons to enjoy the waterfront.”
Although Johnson was canny about any soon-to-be-announced launches, UBM in April announced its National Security Technology Expo would take place at the venue in 2012.
If and when the project is completed, it will bump the venue to the top of the West Coast charts, surpassing the LACC with the largest contiguous exhibition hall on the West Coast. The upgrade will also boost the venue’s competitiveness against San Francisco, Vancouver and Anaheim, the other major players in the medical meetings circuit which makes up SDCC’s bread and butter.
Environmental considerations mean the plan accords with the internationally-recognised LEED gold standard: green features include the use of natural light and grey water, an on-site water treatment system, photovoltaic panels, the green roof, sensors to automatically adjust lighting levels and energy-saving light fixtures.
The cherry on top of the deal is a new direct flight by British Airways from London to San Diego. This is the third time that route has launched, as it was previously cancelled after the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks. It was tried a second time but again failed. Hopefully the third time is the charm for what would be a very lucrative channel for bringing international visitors.
All this effort has paid off: late last year Comic Con agreed to stay in the city for the “foreseeable future”.
“We worked really closely in partnership with Comic Con,” says Johnson, pointing out that the show has been at the SDCC for 20 years. “When Comic Con comes to town, visitors feel like they own downtown, and that’s an experience you wouldn’t get from LA or Anaheim,” he adds.
We will see when the ribbon is cut in 2015.
