OCEAN CITY — Resort officials this week staunchly defended the Roland E. Powell Convention Center after hearing public comments the facility is underutilized and a proposed expansion is unwarranted.
On the same day the Mayor and Council approved a nearly $250,000 upgrade to the Performing Arts Center and under two months after giving the nod to preliminary work on a 30,000-square-foot expansion of the decades-old facility, the city’s elected officials listened during the public comment period as a private citizen complained the convention center is underutilized. After listening to the citizen comments, Councilmember Mary Knight staunchly defended the use of the convention center.
“I’m not sure where the comment came from that we’re not filling the convention center,” she said. “We have people waiting for space, which is why we’re considering the next 30,000-square-foot expansion.”
In April, the Mayor and Council approved hiring the Becker Morgan Group to begin performing site planning, a parking analysis and architectural planning for a proposed expansion of the exhibit space of 30,000 square feet. The proposed expansion would bring the convention center in line with a recommendation decades ago to eventually expand to 80,000 square feet of exhibit space.
Convention Center Director Larry Niccolino on Monday also defended the proposed expansion, pointing out he often has to turn away prospective users because of the lack of sufficient space or date conflicts with other events.
“We’ve turned down people just today,” he said. “We’re running at around 87 percent occupancy, which is unheard of in our industry. The town has been very fortunate to fill that space and even more space is needed.”
In terms of booking acts at the Performing Arts Center, Niccolino also dismissed the idea upscale performances the new facility could attract are no longer in vogue, making the PAC a “white elephant” of sorts.
“Performers are not on the downside,” he said. “Performers are on the upside, so I’m not sure where that information came from. Just this afternoon, we made an offer to another group for this coming December for a Christmas show.”
By and large, Niccolino said the resort often has to turn away potential business because of the convention center’s space limitation, which is not necessarily a bad thing because it drives the supply and demand for the facility.
“We just don’t have the space to do everything we’d like to do,” he said. “That’s not a bad problem to have.”
In related news, Councilman Dennis Dare took a few moments on Monday to recognize a former convention center director, who passed away last week.
“I’d like to acknowledge former Convention Center director Mike Noah who passed away last Tuesday after a courageous battle with cancer,” he said. “Mike came to us in 1996 from the Superdome and oversaw the first expansion of the Convention Center. Because of his vast experience in operating buildings, Mike was able to take us through that expansion and renovation for two-and-a-half years with offices out in parking lot trailers and was successful in not losing one piece of business during those two years.”
Dare said Noah presided over the first major expansion of the convention center, which was built in the 1970 with just 40,000 square-feet of exhibit space on two levels with seven meeting rooms and breakout rooms and other areas, along with the iconic ramp from Coastal Highway to the front entrance, with aplomb and then began booking the expanded space for the next decade-plus.
“Even more so, over the next 13 years of his tenure, he was able to fill that space and grow the need for future expansions, so we owe a great debt to Mike,” he said.
