The Conference Conundrum

The latest effort to renovate and expand Cobo Center offers the best hope yet to provide for the future growth of The North American International Auto Show. It will also help draw new conventions that would pump added revenue into local hotels and restaurants.

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Long fraught with delays, the proposed $288-million renovation and expansion of Detroit’s Cobo Center would help the region and state draw more conventions, conferences, and meetings; boost area hotel, restaurant, and hospitality services; and cut energy costs, add parking, and boost efficiency — especially as it relates to the delivery, setup, and breakdown of exhibit space.

The plan — which requires unanimous approval of a new five-member regional authority made up of appointees from the state, city, and Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties — would add 166,000 square feet of exhibition space to Cobo Center, remove fixed tiered seating inside Cobo Arena and replace it with retractable seating for around 3,000 people, better improve access and sight lines to the Detroit River, and expand Wayne Hall (located closest to the Detroit River). The Riverview Ballroom would also be renovated, while a new portico entrance at Jefferson and Washington would add 20,000 square feet of meeting space and provide a covered entrance into Cobo Center.

In addition, the Michigan Hall in the lower level would be extended to Atwater Street and the Detroit Riverwalk via a concourse that could serve as pre-function space or added room for exhibits. The Michigan Hall would also flow into the lower level of the redesigned Cobo Arena, essentially providing large exhibit, banquet, or entertainment space to complement the Center’s main level, consisting of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb halls. The expansion and renovation of the lower level would yield added exhibit room for the annual North American International Auto Show, the Center’s main user, as well as the annual SAE show and other large events. In addition, two or more large events could be held simultaneously on the main level of Cobo Center and in the redesigned Michigan Hall and Cobo Arena.

“We have met or exceeded all of the requirements needed to bring Cobo Center into the 21st century and effectively compete for new conventions and meetings on a very cost-competitive basis,” says George W. Jackson Jr., president and CEO of Detroit Economic Growth Corp., a quasi-public development agency in Detroit. “We’re going to add and modernize the heating and cooling equipment, so we’ll have significant cost saving there. Plus we’ll add truck bays at Cobo Center and Cobo Arena, and the plan will provide exhibitors with better access to electricity, communication wires, lighting, and sound.”

Currently, most electric power at Cobo is accessed via floor boxes, but power is limited, meaning contractors must often run special cabling to and across the ceiling. In the new plan, the addition of permanent transformers and so-called bus ducts would improve power access while cutting down on cabling costs. In turn, a new communication distribution spine would improve the setup and operation of computers, lights, speakers, and special effects like smoke machines.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who five years ago balked when former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick outlined a $1.3-billion plan to expand Cobo Center by 200,000 square feet, says he’s pleased with the new governing authority, although he believes deferred maintenance should be tackled before addressing any expansion efforts.

“We saved taxpayers $1 billion by insisting that Cobo be prudently improved,” Patterson says. “There was also talk that Oakland County would get one vote on a seven-member authority, which meant I would be out-voted for the rest of my life. But we held fast and insisted that we get one vote among a five-member authority, and that any expenditures and the like needed unanimous approval.”

Patterson says the recent downturn in the global automotive market makes him cautious of any expansion effort. “We need to improve the facility, no question, but we shouldn’t be adding space if the automakers aren’t going to produce as many vehicles down the road.” He believes the loading docks, heating and cooling equipment, communication and technology systems, and parking garage should be renovated first.

Joseph Serra, co-chairman of the 2009 auto show, which is hosted by the Detroit Auto Dealers Association in Troy, says more automakers, especially OEMs from China and India, would lease space during the January event if room were available. And longtime manufacturers say they could utilize any available extra space, he says. In the past, tight quarters caused many automakers to add second levels — a more expensive proposition.

“From the last seven years that I’ve been involved with running the show, we’ve heard a consistent demand from the OEMs for more space,” says Serra, president of Serra Automotive in Grand Blanc. “For years, the automakers were asking for a driving track so journalists and the public could experience all the new technology, and we finally added it this year (in the Michigan Hall). We need a venue that can accommodate all kinds of activities, and it would be a real shame if we, as the Motor City, couldn’t provide for an industry that will rebound and thrive.”

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