Hotel Shortage Means No Boston Convention Center Expansion for Foreseeable Future
And don’t even think about using the Hynes as backup
BY TOM ACITELLI (Curbed Boston) JUN 14, 2016
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority several months ago commissioned a study on whether to significantly expand the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (newly inaugurated Gov. Charlie Baker had halted a planned $1B expansion in 2015). The verdict from the management consultancy charged with the analysis is clear: It’s not worth it because the city seriously lacks hotel rooms near the current BCEC in South Boston.
Per Jon Chesto in the Globe: “Boston ranks last, by far, among peer cities for the number of rooms within walking distance of the main convention center. And the pace for booking convention center space is declining from 2018 through 2021, primarily because of the difficulty in assembling blocks of hotel rooms and transportation costs involved with shuttling convention-goers from hotels, the report showed.”
That Boston has a gnawing dearth of hotel rooms (despite a hotel-building boom) is not exactly earth-shattering. But the BCEC verdict—no big-time expansion until a big-time increase in places to stay—certainly accentuates that reality.
As far as drawing conventions despite the shortage, one solution that’s definitely out is using the Hynes Convention Center in Back Bay. Why? Because its nearby hotels are all full from people using the BCEC. And round and round it goes…
