The Convention Center is owned and operated by a King County Public Facilities District (PFD). In 2010, the legislature passed Substitute Senate Bill 6889 authorizing King County to create a public facilities district to acquire, own and operate a convention center transferred from a state public nonprofit corporation. On July 30, 2010, the King County Council passed King County Ordinance 16883, which officially established the Washington State Convention Center (WSCC) Public Facilities District.

Yes, the Convention Center is a PFD, an independent unit of local government chartered within King County.  Washington’s governor, Seattle’s mayor, and the King County executive each appoint three members to WSCC’s Board of Directors, which is ultimately responsible for the management, operations, capital improvements and financial success of the Convention Center. While WSCC was once owned by the state of Washington, that is no longer the case.

WSCC is funded by a tax on hotel room usage in the City of Seattle and King County, as well as by enterprise revenues that include room rental sales, food and beverage services, facility services, parking and rent from retailers located in the center. WSCC is one of the few convention centers in the nation that has consistently turned a profit on operations. WSCC receives no operating subsidies from any governmental agency.

Historically, convention business in Seattle has been very strong and has grown year over year. There is an opportunity – more important than ever in the wake of a global pandemic – to continue to capture convention business to generate revenue for the community, supporting the hotels, restaurants, other hospitality-oriented businesses, and related employers in the region. Demand for meeting business in Seattle is bolstered by a 65 percent repeat customer rate for national conventions. Typically, WSCC turns away as much business as it books. In the five years prior to start of construction on the Addition, the Convention Center could not accommodate more than 350 event proposals due to lack of dates or space, which equates to $2.13 billion in potential lost economic benefit for the region.

Funding for the Addition comes primarily from bond issuances by the Convention Center, supported by the existing tax on hotel rooms. 

Please sign up here and direct questions to Marivic Chennault, Director, Clark Construction, (marivic.chennault@clarkconstruction) for more information.

The Addition will create approximately 2,300 direct jobs (at WSCC and in hospitality-related businesses) and support an additional 1,600 indirect/induced jobs (jobs in the supply chain such as food purchases and jobs generated by those who directly and indirectly support the hospitality industry). During construction, the project will employ as many as 6,000 workers.

In addition, the Convention Center is committed to partnering with minority, small, veteran, disadvantaged and women-owned businesses to build and operate the new facility.

The Convention Center has had a long and deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Examples of this include the Addition project’s apprenticeship programs, work with What’s Next Washington to employ the formerly incarcerated, and the project’s $80 million hiring goal of women and minority-owned business enterprise (WMBE) contractors. Like the City of Seattle, WSCC defines WMBE as state-certified or self-identified firms that are at least 51 percent WMBE owned, which includes Black-, Asian American-, Hispanic-, Native American- and White female-owned firms.

The Addition is expected to generate about $260 million per year in visitor spending for the local economy. By way of comparison, cities spend years and significant dollars chasing major sporting events for their economic benefit, such as a Final Four Men’s Basketball Tournament (estimated economic benefit: $100+ million in spending) or the Superbowl (estimated revenue for Superbowl XXXIV in Atlanta: $215 million in spending).  Those are one-time boosts, compared with the year-over-year spending anticipated by visitors to the Addition.

The existing Convention Center is a union facility, and the Addition relies on union labor for construction. It is anticipated that the new facility will employ union labor.

The Addition will enhance pedestrian connections from downtown to Capitol Hill, improving the walking experience through activation with new street uses, sidewalk improvements, landscaping and lighting.

Retail success can be difficult in today’s online environment.  On top of that, consumers simply aren’t purchasing goods and services like they once did. As developers of Pacific Place and Via6, Pine Street Group (developer of the Addition on behalf of WSCC) understands retail and has asked architects Graham Babba to help LMN create an engaging retail environment. Jim Graham’s retail work includes Via6, Melrose Market and ChopHouse Row.  Innovative ideas are part of his DNA.

Absolutely. The Convention Center has a 30-year history of providing public access to art, including more than 100 permanent and rotating works of art on display in the existing facility. The Addition will expand WSCC’s well-respected art program with many new artworks by primarily Pacific Northwest artists.

Yes. The project has invested $30 million in the City of Seattle’s Office of Housing through its community benefits package and has provided $5 million to King County as part of the agreement to purchase Convention Place Station. The project is providing an additional $4.3 million for affordable housing through the City’s Incentive Zoning Program and about $330,000 to Plymouth Housing Group for additional development rights.

Yes. It is anticipated that the Addition will achieve LEED Gold certification. In addition, the new facility is expected to feature a host of sustainable elements, including innovations that embrace Seattle’s commitment to environmental stewardship. The existing facility has operated with a culture of sustainability from the day it opened, and the PFD is committed to environmentally sound management principles for its convention center campus.

Yes. The Addition will include parking for approximately 700 vehicles, which will serve the Addition and a portion of the parking for the co-development projects (office and residential) to the north of the Addition. The convention center’s two existing garages will help cover demand.

Fifteen years ago, the decision was made to close Convention Place Station (CPS) to bus traffic when light rail extends beyond the University of Washington. The long-term plan was for the buses to deliver passengers to the light rail stations and use the light rail to move riders through the hourglass of downtown. This requires more trains and train cars, which means buses had to move out of the tunnel in March 2019.

Each agency involved with transportation downtown worked together to make the transition as smooth as possible through the One Center City (OCC) plan. Partners included Metro Transit, Sound Transit, Seattle Department of Transportation, and the Downtown Seattle Association. The plan provided improvements to keep people moving through the Center City, while supporting continued growth in a highly developed urban environment.

As with any large construction project, impacts are occurring during construction. However, the project team has worked closely with the Seattle Department of Transportation on a plan to reduce those impacts and communicate with the general public and neighbors. When the Addition and co-developments are complete, the number of driveways on the three parcels will reduce from 17 to five, which will simplify traffic patterns and improve the pedestrian experience.

For the Addition project, Seattle City Council approved vacations of three alleys and two streets. "Vacated" alleys and streets are components of the City's street grid system that become the property of the entity requesting the vacation and are no longer public property. The Convention Center requested vacation of:

• The partial alley on Site A
• The alleys on Sites B and C
• Olive Way below-grade between Ninth Avenue and Boren Street
• Terry Avenue below-grade between Olive Way and Howell Street

The vacations were requested to enable construction of a below-grade loading dock and exhibition hall. Olive Way and Terry Avenue will remain public streets at the surface. The land below grade will become the property of the Convention Center.

The project is paying the City a fair market price for the value of the land.  In addition, the project is providing a package of investments for the community. The value of these investments totals more than $93 million and includes substantial funding for affordable housing, parks and open spaces, improvements to Pike and Pine between downtown and Capitol Hill, bicycle infrastructure, a lid I-5 study and more.

For more information on the City’s alley and street vacation policy, please visit their website http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/streetvacations.htm

Historically, the Convention Center turned away as many meetings and conventions as it booked, due to the lack of available space or dates. The Addition project will have a profound economic impact on the Greater Seattle region by hosting many of the conventions it typically turned away, benefiting our region’s workers, restaurants, shops and hotels by adding an estimated $260 million per year in spending to the local economy.