Los Angeles City Council approves convention center expansion after fraught debate over cost, schedule and city risk

The Los Angeles City Council voted to proceed with a phased expansion and modernization of the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sept. 19, approving amended project cost limits and instructions to city staff after a daylong public hearing and debate.

City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo told the council the latest negotiated package reduced construction and city-retained costs and lowered the assumed financing rate, trimming the project’s direct construction price to about $2.62 billion and the amount to be financed to just over $3 billion. “These revisions ... move the average annual general fund impact from the $111,000,000 ... to $89,000,000 today,” Szabo said, summarizing the CAO office’s updated projections.

The council’s vote follows months of committee review and new figures brought forward in the special meeting. The CAO’s presentation said the expansion would add about 190,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, 39,000 square feet of meeting rooms and a 95,000-square-foot multi-purpose space by connecting West Hall and South Hall across Pico Boulevard. The CAO brief listed projected direct and indirect benefits the city attributes to the project: roughly 13,300 construction jobs during the build, about 2,153 net new annual jobs after completion, at least 500,000…