The San Diego Convention Center is the primary convention center in San Diego, California. It is located in the Marina district of downtown San Diego near the Gaslamp Quarter, at 111 West Harbor Drive. The center is managed by the San Diego Convention Center Corporation, a non-profit public benefit corporation.
History
San Diego approved a measure to fund construction of a new convention center in 1983 on land owned by the Port of San Diego. Construction of the original building began in March 1987 and was completed in November 1989. An expansion which doubled the gross square footage of the facility was completed in September 2001. In September 2008 the center took steps to acquire adjacent property for an additional expansion.
Notable events hosted at the convention center include the annual Comic-Con International convention and the Society for Neuroscience. Television game show Wheel of Fortune did live tapings of shows at the Convention Center featuring contestants from the San Diego area that aired nationally in 1997, 2003, and 2007. It hosted the 1996 Republican National Convention, which nominated Bob Dole and Jack Kemp for President and Vice President of the United States, respectively. It was also the venue for the 2007 California Democratic Party Convention.
In 2008, the Hilton San Diego Bayfront opened south of the convention center; this was followed by the Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge which opened in the Spring of 2011, which links the Convention Center with the neighborhoods on the other side of Harbor Drive. In 2014, the Convention Center hosted the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) International Convention, bringing in $56 million to the economy of San Diego.
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Design
The convention center offers 615,700 sq ft (57,200 m2) of exhibit space. As of 2009 it was the 24th largest convention facility in North America. It was designed by Canadian architect Arthur Erickson. Capacity for the facility is 125,000.
The center's most distinguishing feature is the Sails Pavilion, a 90,000 sq ft (8,400 m2) exhibit and special event area. The Sails Pavilion's roof consists of distinctive Teflon-coated fiberglass "sails" intended to reflect San Diego's maritime history, as well as to advertise the center's proximity to the San Diego shore. The Pavilion was originally built as an open-air facility under the roof. However, the center found it hard to convince potential users to book an open-air facility, so in 2000 the Pavilion area was enclosed in glass, greatly expanding the usable area of the center.
Another unusual feature of the convention center is its inclined elevator, which ascends alongside the large exterior staircase.
Proposed expansion
By November 2012, there was a $520 million proposed expansion to the San Diego Convention Center. The proposed expansion would have increased the available space within the convention center by 33 percent and had a target completion date of early 2016.
In March 2013, judicial approval was received for the funding method for the expansion; the funding would come from a special taxing district consisting of hotels in San Diego. The expansion was approved by the California Coastal Commission in October 2013.
However, on August 1, 2014, a California appeals court ruled the hotel tax unconstitutional, jeopardizing the financing scheme for the convention center expansion, forcing the city to either appeal the decision, seek ballot approval for the tax in accordance with the court's ruling, or come up with an entirely new financing scheme. Attorney Cory Brigg was the filing attorney for the successful lawsuit, and has another lawsuit filed regarding the bay front nature of the proposed expansion. The decision was not appealed by the San Diego City Council. The effort to expand the convention center up to August 2014 expended $10 million. Due to the lawsuit, other cities have contacted Comic-Con International regarding the possibility of relocating away from San Diego. In 2015, the Coast Commission again approved the convention center expansion plan.
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