With Convention Center Renovation Complete, Anahiem Turns to Aging Arena
Now that the Anaheim Convention Center renovation is complete and locals have had a breather from almost four years of construction, the city is turning its attention to the last element of the Convention Center complex in need of a facelift: the arena.
The 1960s-era arena has been gaining favor with conventioneers as a setting for large general sessions. And its 27,000 square feet of floor space is nicely suited to large banquets. But its appearance just doesn’t match the sparkling glass and sweeping design of the newly remodeled convention center.
“It’s pretty obvious the expansion stopped at the arena,” Ahlers said.
When the $180 million expansion of the convention center wrapped up in December, there were no funds allocated by the city to spruce up the arena and bring it more in line with the new look.
At that time, Greg Smith, executive director of the convention, sports and entertainment department for the city of Anaheim, said his projected budget of $300,000 for upgrades to the arena was pulled by city council in favor of other projects.
But now,with Anaheim one of the few rays of hope for the meetings and conventions industry in a difficult economy,the city council has changed its tune. Instead of the $300,000 previously requested by Smith for cosmetic upgrades at the arena, the council recently approved $2.3 million for the first of three phases of improvements to the aging facility.
Much of that funding will be generated by revenue from the convention center itself, rather than from resident-generated taxes.
Asked to explain the dramatic turnaround, city spokesman John Nicoletti said the funding was turned down earlier because the rest of the center wasn’t yet complete. But once the exhibit halls were done, he said, the next piece on the agenda was the arena.
“It was the arena’s turn,” he said.
Ahlers said he thinks the city simply saw that it would be detrimental to overall business to not renovate the arena, and credited Glenn Hale, area vice president of Hilton Hotels for Orange and San Diego counties, with “leading the charge” to get the funding approved.
“It was a matter of priorities,” he said.
Ahlers said an upgraded arena might not bring much additional business to the convention center, because some groups are already using it. But it would add more flexibility to the mix of space already available and thus be a selling point for the bureau.
“It’s the best general session area,” he said, because of its sloped seating and its flexibility for self-contained banquets. The bureau has been getting more requests to use the arena for things like product launches, too.
“Lots of pharmaceutical companies have used it,” Ahlers said.
Of course, the arena has long been home to concerts and in recent years has hosted the spring Big West Conference basketball tournament and a cheerleading conference. Next year, the American Youth Soccer Organization will join other sports events booked at the convention center.
“It’s still a great community facility, but it’s being used for more corporate events, too,” Nicoletti said. About a dozen corporate events,complete with entertainment,are on the books for this year.
The upgrades are scheduled over a three to four-year period to allow Smith to work around booked events rather than close the arena to complete the work.
“There will be a few weeks of partial closures,” Smith said, “but we’re looking at holes in the (event) schedule when we can do the work.”
If anyone is familiar with working around ongoing events, it’s Smith. He was the point man for similar logistics during the massive remodel of the convention center, during which the center never lost ground in square footage even as construction went on. And numerous groups that used the facility in the midst of the heaviest construction gave kudos to the crews for keeping noise and distraction to a minimum during show times.
The same architect that designed the now-renowned look of the convention center,Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum,has been retained to do the work on the arena, which could begin by year’s end, Smith said.
But residents, conventioneers and passers-by may not even notice when the work starts, because first-phase upgrades will be confined to interior work that Smith said can’t wait. Those upgrades, which will take about a year to complete, will include new carpeting, reupholstered seating and repairs to the heating and air conditioning system.
In addition, the 35-year-old acoustical ceiling will be replaced.
“It’s beat up,” Smith said.
Newer facilities like the Arrowhead Pond don’t have the same type of ceilings, but Smith said any major change to the ceiling structure also would entail replacing the HVAC system, something that would add significantly to the cost, so the original infrastructure is likely to be retained.
In phase two, Smith said the sound, and lighting, and all electrical systems will be upgraded. The building also will be repainted inside.
The third and final phase will be to the exterior of the building.
“The architecture itself won’t change,” Smith said, “but it will blend better with the new center.”
Meanwhile, Smith still is working to smooth out some logistical problems at the expanded convention center, the biggest of which is parking.
“Parking is tough,” he admitted. “It always has been.”
While show operators have raved about the new facility and put pictures of it on their convention Web sites, many grouse about parking. The center has 4,500 parking spaces on site, including some at the Hilton Anaheim, and uses overflow lots at the Disneyland Resort, Edison Field and the Arrowhead Pond when needed. But convention attendees sometimes complain about the distance from the parking lots to the center and the premium number of parking places,particularly for shows that draw a large local crowd.
Smith acknowledged there have been a few problems, but said recent changes should alleviate the situation. For one, electric tram service scheduled to serve the complex was delayed, but Smith said the trams are now fully operational. That should help conventioneers who park in back but need to come to the front of the center to register.
And the 1,000 spaces of overflow parking at Disneyland have been relocated to a new parking lot,reportedly dubbed the Buzz Lightyear lot,across from the convention center on Harbor Boulevard. That puts attendees within a five-minute walk of the center,closer than the trek from the Simba lot behind California Adventure.
During the recent Association of Woodworking and Furnishings Suppliers show, traffic moved smoothly on both Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard and there appeared to be ample space for attendees. The show draws about 25,000 people and 700 exhibitors.
AWFS executive director Dale Silverman was happy with the city’s signage, too.
“The signage to the many venues in the immediate area is excellent,” Silverman said. “I haven’t gotten lost once since they put all the signs up!” n
