Las Vegas aims to keep its title as the nation’s number-one destination for conventions by launching a $600 million renovation of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s legacy campus. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Wednesday.
“This is what Las Vegas does,” said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. “These types of public investments, whether it’s the 215 (Beltway), the airport, Allegiant Stadium, or the West Hall, have paid off and made Las Vegas what it is.”
The renovation will extend the technology, contemporary design, architecture, and customer experience of the $1 billion 1.4-million-square-foot West Hall, completed in 2021, to the rest of the 3.2-million-square-foot
campus.
While West Hall construction moved forward, renovation of the legacy halls was delayed due to the pandemic.
Construction is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2026, while minimizing disruption to scheduled trade shows.
In 2022, the Convention Center hosted 56 conventions with a combined attendance of nearly 900,000 of the five million convention-goers who came to Las Vegas. The convention industry is nearing a full recovery this year, after the 2022 numbers were 25% below the 6.64 million in 2019 prior to the pandemic.
Las Vegas has seen 1.94 million convention-goers through March, only 1.9% below where it was in 2019.
Attendance was 2.2 million in 2021. Hill has predicted it could surpass 8 million in 2026.
In a marketplace with 15 million square feet of convention space, weekday visitors continue to be key for the full recovery in Las Vegas. Midweek occupancy was 85.8% in March, up from 76.8% in March 2022. It was 88.9% in March 2019.
Some 16% of the city’s 42.5 million visitors in 2019 came for conventions.
Convention visitors spend much more than their leisure-traveler counterparts. In 2022, conventioneers spent $1,495 versus $1,106 by tourists.
Jim Gibson, chair of the LVCVA board of directors, regaled the crowd gathered for the ceremony on the important role conventions play in Las Vegas. The five million convention attendees in 2022 supported 38,000 jobs, made $2.1 billion in wagers, and had a $7.5 billion economic impact.
Gibson said that no other destination has invested more in hosting the trade-show industry than Las Vegas. He pointed out that the city has been North America’s number-one trade-show destination for nearly three decades.
“This is thanks to our resort partners who continue to invest in their facilities and amenities and maintain them in a way that makes it an unusual and classy experience to come here,” Gibson said.
The opening of the West Hall in 2021 “was a game changer for the entire meeting and convention industry,” Gibson said.
The renovation will extend the signature ribbon roof of the West Hall to create cohesion on the campus. An outdoor plaza and indoor lobby at the South Hall will provide direct access to the new pre-function space and a second-floor boardroom.
A climate-controlled interior concourse will run between the North and South halls to allow trade-show attendees to move between the two without exiting the building. That will provide interior access for the entire campus.
In addition, an expansive grand lobby will be built between the North and Central halls.
Hill said the project has a long history, dating back about 20 years, but was delayed because of the Great Recession of the late 2000s. It didn’t pick up steam until 2015 when funding for it was evaluated, along with the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium, he said.
“We’ve been the number-one trade-show destination for nearly three decades and we will be for another three decades,” Hill said. “The only way to do that is to provide a customer experience that makes all of these shows want to come back year after year. They love this town, but we need to give them the same experience in this building. Our customers love the West Hall, but the contrast between the West Hall and North and Central halls in particular is pretty significant.”
The project will be funded with transfers from the LVCVA’s general fund, bonds supported by its general revenues, a 0.5% room tax authorized by the Nevada Legislature in 2016, and proceeds from the sale of the 10-acre Riviera parcel.
The existing convention center opened in 1959 and has never had a complete renovation. The North Hall opened in 1983.
