ECONOMIC GROWTH
and conventions. It’s nothing personal,
many times just a matter of space. But los-
ing convention groups, Testa says, means
a loss of potential economic impacts for
local communities in the tens of thousands
or even millions of dollars. Sacramen-
to’s main competitors, San Jose and Long
Beach, both expanded their convention
centers in recent years while the Sacra-
mento Convention Center Complex (which
includes the Community Center Theater
and Memorial Auditorium) has fallen be-
hind, Testa says.
So what would it take to catch up? This
has been the question for the past few
years, debated among stakeholders such
as city officials, tourism authorities, devel-
opers and local hotel operators. Last year,
the Sacramento City Council approved $16
million to upgrade the Memorial Auditori-
um (scheduled for completion by Novem-
ber 2020) and $83 million to renovate the
Community Center Theater (scheduled for
completion by April 2021).
In the renovated theater, patrons can
expect upgrades such as refurbished
seats, bigger restrooms, more space in the
“THIS IS PART OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF THAT K STREET
CORRIDOR. WE HAVE THE ARENA ON ONE SIDE OF K STREET
THAT DRAWS PEOPLE, AND THE TRANSFORMED THEATER AND
CONVENTION CENTER IS THE OTHER BOOKEND THAT WILL LIGHT
THINGS UP FOR THE CITY AND COMMUNITY.”
- Matt Wade, project director, Kitchell CEM
lobby to mingle and a wider array of food
options. Performers can look forward to
enhanced acoustics and speakers, and im-
proved technology, such as lighting, theat-
rical rigging and safety equipment.
“This is part of the transformation of
that K Street corridor,” says Matt Wade,
project director with Kitchell CEM, the
general contractor for the theater. “We
have the arena on one side of K Street that
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draws people, and the transformed theater
and convention center is the other book-
end that will light things up for the city and
community.”
Of course, these renovations will make
the theater more attractive to the public.
But if the Convention Center can lure more
large groups to town for big events, at-
tendees will stay in local hotels, eat at local
restaurants and enjoy local entertainment
– an economic ripple that could pay major
dividends year after year, says Michael
Ault, executive director of the Downtown
Sacramento Partnership.
“The more we can identify and book
conventions, the better,” he says. “The
benefit to downtown can’t be undersold.”
According to the City, plans for the first
phase of the project include expanded ex-
hibit space, additional meeting rooms, a
new kitchen, an east lobby and a new west
lobby in a 205,000 square-foot building.
The original cost of the renovation was es-
timated at $120 million. But some business
owners didn’t think the plans would make
enough of an economic difference. The
Convention Center needed more space,
they said.
Hoteliers, specifically, wanted to add
a second ballroom of 40,000 square feet,
which would allow two groups to rent
space at the same time, cutting down on
days lost to moving in and out, and gener-
ating more potential revenue for local ho-
tels, according to Doug Warren, regional
director of operations for Welcome Group,
which oversees five Marriott-branded ho-
tels in California. Visit Sacramento held
meetings and conducted studies to ana-
lyze the potential impact.
Currently, Convention Center groups
account for about 138,000 rooms booked
a year, Warren says. In 2021, the first full
year the center will open, a study com-
missioned by Visit Sacramento projected
that number jumping to 175,000 and up to
255,000 the following year.
These are, however, conservative
numbers because accounting for every
room attributed to a particular group is
tough, Warren adds. (He also notes that
growth in room nights — the actual rooms