by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
John Reyes has already seen many changes in Jacksonville since he came to the city two years ago. Reyes, the CEO and president of the Jacksonville & the Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau, came from San Diego, where he worked for the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Besides buildings being built and renovated and new businesses discovering Jacksonville, one of the biggest areas Reyes and other prominent members of the business community are working on is the debate over the Osborn Center.
“We have to make a decision to do nothing, expand the current convention center or build a new one,” said Reyes.
The CVB formed a Convention Center Task Force that is made up of about 60 members of the community. All meetings are open to the public and are held at the Main Library.
Reyes said members of the task force were recommended in November 2006. After the task force held an orientation and tours of the Osborn Center, there are several areas the task force is focusing their study on.
“We have completed defining the business demand and now we are on to measuring the type of infrastructures we have for conventions,” he said.
The other areas the task force is studying include site selection, where various new locations as well as the possibility of expanding the current location will be looked at. Next is finances, where task force members will take an in-depth look at construction costs for all possibilities. Later this year, the task force will be reviewing facility operations and determine the most productive means of managing the facility. Lastly, they will look at how a convention center will benefit the community.
“Sub-committees meet each month,” he said. “The task force will finish their work by November.”
Reyes said he came to Jacksonville to be a part of a team that was going to make Jacksonville even better.
“I came for the opportunity to be a part of a group with a vision of where Jacksonville can be,” he said.