Convention Center Expansion Plans Face Big Challenge

Two-thirds of Spokane residents surveyed were unaware of the proposed plans to expand the Convention Center, and an even larger percentage would oppose a sales tax increase to help fund the $80 million project.

A survey of 350 residents and 50 business owners in Spokane County conducted by an Eastern Washington University marketing class indicated that 66 percent of the residents hadn’t heard about the expansion plans. Of those surveyed, 72 percent of the residents and 80 percent of the business owners would oppose a 0.1 percent sales tax for funding.

However, both the general public and business owners would be more willing to approve a tax directed at hotel, restaurant and bar patrons, the survey said. Fifty-four percent of the public and 58 percent of business respondents favored a tax that would more narrowly target visitors.

Promoters of the expansion plan said the results were not unexpected, given the slow pace of the project.

“It’s no secret why,” said Mike Kobluk, Spokane’s director of sports and entertainment facilities. “(The project) has just been plugging along. There has not been any big news.”

The proposed expansion would more than double convention center space by adding a new building on the block bounded by Spokane Falls Boulevard, Washington, Main and Bernard. The expansion could increase the city’s convention business impact from its current $27 million to $55 million, Kobluk said.

A $185,000 project feasibility study was commissioned by the City Council in February 1997 and presented to the council last September.

Survey results were presented at a meeting of the Convention Center Advisory Committee Wednesday.

The challenge now will be trying to spread the word about how the Convention Center expansion would benefit Spokane, said State Sen. Jim West, R-Spokane, who has been asked to help secure dollars for the project in Olympia.

“You have to have a need before you go to fix it,” West told the committee. “I know you know what the need is, but the people I work for don’t.”