LA committee delays decision on $3.2 billion convention center expansion after CAO flags rising costs and DWP changes

The Los Angeles Budget and Finance Committee on Sept. 9 continued for one week deliberations on the proposed Los Angeles Convention Center expansion and a plan to issue Municipal Improvement Corporation of Los Angeles (MICLA) lease revenue bonds after the City Administrative Officer outlined sharply higher cost estimates and lingering revenue and utility risks.

City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo told the committee the project team is asking the council to decide whether to proceed with the expansion as proposed or to terminate the project and reevaluate. Szabo said the project would add about 190,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, nearly 40,000 square feet of meeting rooms and a nearly 100,000-square-foot multipurpose room, and that the team has estimated the financing needed to complete the work. "This project is going to increase, by a 190,000 square feet, the contiguous exhibit hall space," Szabo said.

Szabo presented a total project cost of $2.72 billion — including $2.04 billion in construction costs and $565 million in city-retained contingency and related costs — and said the financing plan assumes borrowing about $3.2 billion once capitalized interest is included. He said the administration estimates an average annual net general fund impact of about $111 million across 30 years, with a peak net impact of about $167 million in fiscal 2030–31. "The schedule dictates that we must achieve commercial close by September," Szabo said, arguing the committee must act quickly to preserve any chance of meeting Olympic-readiness deadlines.

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