Some Orange County operations stand to be touched by the multibillion-dollar destruction in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina.
The Anaheim Convention Center near Disneyland could see unexpected business as groups scramble to find new locations for conferences once set for New Orleans.
Jim Kissinger, vice president in charge of sales for the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau, said his office has received 44 calls from businesses and trade groups searching for convention space after the New Orleans Convention Center said it will be closed through March 31 at the earliest.
New Orleans could turn away more than $3 billion in business amid the reconstruction work, according to estimates.
“The biggest problem is finding a date available for (groups) in the short term,” Kissinger said. “To move a convention of 20,000 out of New Orleans is virtually impossible in six weeks. Some of the larger ones have already moved to Las Vegas.”
Kissinger said the logistics of finding dates and available hotel space during the next six months is tough given that some of its largest conventions booked in Anaheim have locked up space several years in advance.
“I think we might book some, but there is no way of knowing,” he said.
About 1.2 million persons visited the Anaheim Convention Center last year, generating roughly $1.6 billion in revenue, according to figures provided by the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau.
Meanwhile, Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. said last week that it won an initial contract valued at up to $100 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to build temporary housing and provide communications gear to help those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
It’s likely to be the first of a wave of contracts to be awarded to engineering and construction companies to rebuild the Gulf of Mexico region.
Fluor said it will build temporary housing units that will include electricity, water and sewage facilities for those who lost homes in the storm.
The company also is providing vehicles, satellite phones, laptop computers and global-positioning satellite devices to help locate people, and provide directions for drivers.
Fluor has a sizeable presence in the Gulf Coast region working to help oil and gas refining operations produce cleaner fuels. No hurricane-related work for refineries has been announced by the company so far.
A year ago, Fluor completed work on a $280 million effort at ExxonMobil Corp.’s Baton Rouge refinery, which reportedly suffered some flooding and storm damage.
The Baton Rouge refinery is the largest among more than a dozen refineries in Louisiana. Fluor also has worked on Chevron Corp. and Conoco Phillips Inc. refineries in the hurricane-affected area.
Jim McIntyre, a FEMA spokesman, declined to speculate on how big contracts awarded to Fluor and other engineering and construction companies would grow.
Assessing Devastation
“The damage assessment is still ongoing. It’s difficult to speculate on what the future needs are of more than 1 million people who lived in the area,” McIntyre said.
Earlier this year, Fluor said it would move its headquarters to the Dallas area to be closer to its oil and gas operations.
San Francisco-based Bechtel National Inc., Denver-based CH2M Hill Inc., Baton Rouge-based The Shaw Group Inc. and Fairfax, Va.-based Dewberry Technologies also received sizeable rebuilding contracts for the region from FEMA.
Some OC businesses have reported some damage to their operations from the hurricane.
Yum Brands Inc., owner of Irvine-based Taco Bell, said 15 Taco Bell restaurants were damaged significantly.
Wet Seal Inc. of Foothill Ranch, closed two Wet Seal retail stores in New Orleans. Anaheim-based retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., said it closed five stores in Louisiana and two in Mississippi.
