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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM-86-0625a, 6 CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission Cesar H. Odio FROM: City Manager 0 DATE: J U L 1 81986 55 SUBJECT: Interim Exhibition Space REFERENCES: ENCLOSURES: FILE: The hotel industry in the City of Miami has long urged that a downtown exhibit hall be constructed to attract mid -size conventions. Due to the increasing competition from other destinations that have built, and are in the process of increasing the size of their convention facilities, the number of conventions that we will be able to attract without an exhibit hall will continue to decrease. Miami Beach is in the process of enlarging their exhibit hall, which will enhance our hotel occupancy downtown for the larger size conventions but the distance and cost of shuttling conventioneers from Miami Beach to downtown is causing the downtown hotels to be eliminated from participatirLg in the mid- size groups. The Miami Convention Center lacks the necessary exhibit and banquet facilities to host these conventions and Coconut Grove Exhibition Hall lacks the proper meeting rooms and banquet facilities to host these groups under one roof. A small exhibit hall (30,000 sq. ft.) is being negotiated with the developers of the Knight Center to enhance its ability to attract more groups within one year, but until a permanent site for a proper downtown exhibit hall is found, an interim solution to the exhibition space problem in downtown would be to add meeting rooms to the existing Coconut Grove Exhibition Center so that it would become a complete convention center with banquet, meeting and exhibition space under one roof. Increasing the Miami Convention Center' exhibit space, and the addition of meeting rooms at Coconut Grove Exhibit Center, will make those facilities more marketable, and thus reduce or eliminate the operating deficits through increasing revenues. It is suggested that up to $7,000,000 from the Convention Development Tax be allocated for the purpose of adding approximately 55,000 sq. ft. of meeting room space, upgrading the existing exhibition space and building banquet facilities at the Coconut Grove Exhibition Center. This will be scheduled as a discussion item on the July 24, 1986 agenda. %6-623. C""�c