LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Los Angeles City Council is expected to vote Friday on whether to move forward on the Convention Center Expansion Project amid rising overhead costs and concerns about meeting a deadline to ensure the venue is ready for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson is expected to host a news conference at 8 a.m. outside of City Hall — alongside his colleagues Tim McOsker, Heather Hutt, Curren Price, Ysabel Jurado and Adrin Nazarian — to advocate for the expansion project. They will be joined by a coalition of business, labor groups and community members lobbying for the new facility.
On Thursday, Mayor Karen Bass endorsed the full expansion and modernization of the downtown Convention Center.
The mayor publicly called for the expansion of the Convention Center in her past two State of the City addresses, citing the need to catalyze change in downtown and the entire city by bringing in more visitors to restaurants, hotels, stores and other attractions. However, top city advisors have warned that moving forward with the full expansion could pose many risks, including the loss of the site as an Olympic venue if it were to miss a readiness date by March 31, 2028.
Additionally, city officials have said it could limit their ability to hire police officers, paramedics, and other city positions, as well as impact services for years to come to pay for the project.
“This is an ambitious project that will demand creative thinking and diligence from city departments. It is our responsibility to do this in a way that protects our fiscal health — and we will work in partnership with the Council President to implement cost-saving measures, efficiency improvements and streamlined approvals to ensure on time completion,” Bass said in a statement.
“City Hall must continue to break away from the old, failed ways of doing things to open Los Angeles for businesses,” she added.
The full City Council is likely to discuss three options: approve the full expansion, the repair plan or kill the project outright.
The project also has its critics, such as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
“The City Council is threatening to saddle L.A. taxpayers with decades of debt payments to pay for a Convention Center expansion that they’re rushing to approve in time for the Olympics. It’s completely unfair to the taxpayers to put this unaffordable vanity project ahead of all the important priorities placing demands on the city’s budget,” the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the five-member Budget and Finance Committee voted 3-2 to advance a scaled-back plan to repair and modernize the facility, with the goal of undergoing expansion after the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, chair of the BFI Committee, introduced the plan alongside Councilman Bob Blumenfield. It was backed by committee member Eunisses Hernandez, and opposed by McOsker and Hutt.
“I want to see investment in these high-road jobs, but the risks to the project as proposed, and the risks to the city’s finances are too great and risks us having to cut our city workforce to offset the cost of the project for years to come, which isn’t even touching on the risk of schedule and being ready for the Olympics,” Yaroslavsky previously said.
The Convention Center is set to be the site for fencing, taekwondo, judo, wrestling and table tennis for the 2028 Olympics and wheelchair fencing, taekwondo, judo, boccia and table tennis for the 2028 Paralympics.
The Convention Center Expansion Project would be constructed through a so-called “phased delivery” with completion slated for 2029. Work would be paused during the Olympics and Paralympics.
Initially, the expansion project was estimated at $1.4 billion in June 2024, which later increased to $2.2 billion in January. The latest estimate puts the project at $2.7 billion.
City officials have advised setting $566 million aside for “city- retained costs” to control overages, tariffs on construction materials, electrical service delivery and other unknown risks.
The expansion project consists of 190,000 square feet of additional exhibit hall space, nearly 40,000 square feet of meeting room space and nearly 100,000 square feet for a multi-service room, which City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo noted would add more than 13,000 construction jobs during the expansion.
While officials recognized the project will provide substantial benefits, there are notable concerns.
“I still believe in an expanded Convention Center. I still believe it. What I don’t agree with is the delivery method that we are using that was solely sourced with a time frame that we imposed upon ourselves that threatens the delivery of the Olympic Games,” Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso said.
Paying for the expansion project requires issuing bonds, for an average net negative General Fund impact of $111 million per year over the next 30 years. In the early years of the once-completed project, the cost would be greater, averaging $160 million from 2031 to 2034.
The city would be straddled with this cost for years to come, impacting some of their ability to hire and offer services, according to Tso.
Another risk is the construction schedule.
The city could be on the hook for costs to relocate multiple events should the facility not be available.
The city could use the two remaining months to finalize any construction work, but must deliver the keys to the Convention to LA28, the Olympic organizing committee, on June 1, 2028, for its exclusive use ahead of the Games.
Risks to this schedule also include ensuring all fire/life safety and spectator egress for major events are ready, as well as expectations for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to design and deliver power to the project.
David Hanson, DWP power systems senior assistant general manager, noted that the utility is still figuring out how much power the expansion project will need.
“There’s a certain amount of power that triggers a certain design and a number of cables. It starts getting very confusing, but that’s what we’re most interested in because that determines how big this project will be for us,” Hanson said.
He added that such work will require additional support staff, which DWP would be pulling off other projects, such as those involving Metro’s East San Fernando Valley Light Rail, Port of Los Angeles initiatives, and under grounding of utility wires in Pacific Palisades, as well as projects at Los Angeles International Airport.
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