Like the Skyway next to it, the Osborn Center is the subject of one potshot after another. It’s too small. There is no attached hotel and none within walking distance. The roof leaks. Half the time it’s empty. Last year the Jacksonville Convention and Visitors Bureau hired Strategic Advisory Group LLC, funded by the Tourist Development Council, to study Jacksonville’s stature in the convention business. In June, they issued a report, which stated what everyone already knows: to be a competitive venue in the convention market, the Osborn Center needs to be doubled in size and be close to as many hotel rooms as possible.
“I think we all have to agree that we’re missing business and how much convention business would mean to the redevelopment of downtown,” said Council member Jim Overton. “I’ve watched us lose business consistently. Jacksonville is underserved by its convention center.”
The report outlined three options for increasing convention traffic in Jacksonville.
Option One: Market the Osborn Center more aggressively as it is for an estimated mild increase in business.
Option Two: Expand the 78,000 square-foot exhibit hall to 150,000 square feet and build as many first-rate hotels as the market can handle nearby, which would rival facilities in Tampa and Birmingham.
Option Three: Move the convention center close to the existing cluster of downtown hotels, putting it on par with the top three convention centers in other markets.
Option One increases the facilities marketing budget by $500,000 but would merely increase awareness of Jacksonville’s convention center to prospective users. Option Three rolls in at a estimated $173 million and requires a completely new facility. Some City Council members are opting for the middle door, which could carry a price tag of $60 million on the other side, but tries to improve on what is already available. Like the Skyway, the Osborn isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Council member Reggie Fullwood introduced a resolution before the Council Rules Committee last month to keep the convention center in its current location and has already gathered support.
“I am a proponent of keeping the convention center where it is,” said Overton. “We need to figure out what we need to do on this site to make this convention center or a future convention center work. The redevelopment of the existing convention center is key to the development of western downtown.”
Overton added he would like to explore the feasibility of expanding the Osborn Center by 100,000 square feet, adding an on-site hotel, building a transportation hub and possibly sprinkling in some entertainment nuances. But expansion could take up to a decade, which doesn’t help Jacksonville’s current hotels.
“With the TDC, some hotels have expressed that particular area won’t be built up soon enough,” said TDC administrator Mary Beth Mickey.
But appeasing the local hotel industry by moving the convention center closer to the current hub of activity isn’t tops on city leaders’ agendas, particularly on the heels of the Better Jacksonville Plan’s $2.2 billion drain on the River City’s pocketbooks.
“I feel that our convention center is fine where it is,” said Council member Alberta Hipps. “I think we should renovate it as soon as we can and make it work.”