Center Must Expand Fast, Report Says : Conventions: To keep pace with competitors, the just-opened San Diego complex will have to provide more space and amenities for a growing clientele.

San Diego’s waterfront convention center has been open all of two weeks, but a new consultant’s report already urges officials to begin planning for an expansion in order to stay competitive with centers in other cities.

The report, which will be discussed in detail by the center’s directors Jan. 9, says first-year bookings of conventions, trade and consumer shows at the $160-million San Diego complex have been so good that they equal that of a successful center open for five years.

So what happens to the San Diego facility in five years? According to the report, the San Diego center will not only be bursting, but its fully occupied status will place the city at a competitive disadvantage in the convention center market, a booming business that has several cities expanding their centers or planning to do so.

Although the conclusions in the report by Laventhol & Horwath are not surprising--Mayor Maureen O’Connor warned more than two years ago that the convention center would be undersized the moment it opened--it raises several new questions, such as how big an expansion, where should it occur and when and, perhaps most important, how much will it cost and who will pay for it?

The answers are evident in some cases. The San Diego Unified Port District has control of 11 acres south of and next to the center, all or part of which could be used for the expansion, according to Don Nay, Port District director.

Although there is no expansion timetable, officials estimated Monday that an expansion would probably take at least five years to build.

As for how big an expansion and what it should include, Tom Liegler, general manager of the convention center, has said he would like to have a plenary hall and theater capable of seating several thousand people, 150,000 more square feet of exhibition space and about 75,000 more square feet of meeting room space.

How much an expansion would cost and who would pay are questions without answers.

The Port District, rich with revenue as landlord of the bay front paid for construction of the convention center by essentially writing a check, leaving the new facility without debt. So the agency would appear to be the obvious choice. But the issue hasn’t been directly broached by the agency’s administrative staff or the Board of Port Commissioners.

“Nothing has really been decided. There aren’t any agreements,” Nay said.

James Granby, president of the Convention Center Corp. board of directors, the nonprofit organization responsible for operating the center, said Monday that he doesn’t know who would pay for the expansion.

“What we’re doing is essentially providing information and calling people’s attention to the situation as we see it,” he said. “The where, what and who should pay for it are matters that have to be explored.”

And Liegler said he wanted to be low key about the report.

“This report is just a checkpoint that tells us whether we should even think about expansion,” he said. “The report says we should, but the details haven’t been addressed.”

The report was commissioned by the Convention Center Corp. in May. In the 18-page, $17,000 report, Laventhol & Horwath concludes: “We believe market demand dictates the expansion . . . however, more in-depth analysis is required to determine the sizing and components of the expanded building program.” The report also recommends an economic impact study to show the financial benefits of an expanded center.

“The projected occupancy by conventions, trade shows and consumer shows for the first full year of operations far exceeds the original estimates and more closely resembles a level of usage indicative of the fourth or fifth year of operation,” the report said. “This would indicate that the building will approach maximum occupancy quickly and may not be capable of hosting additional groups that wish to come to San Diego.”

The report notes that the convention business and the trade and consumer-show industry have been growing steadily for the last decade and that projections indicate that the boom will continue. In order to meet the demand, many of San Diego’s competitors are expanding centers or are in the midst of planning expansions.

That means that the San Diego center’s main traditional components--a 254,000-square-foot exhibition hall, a 40,000-square-foot ballroom, 100,000 square feet of meeting space--have been or soon will be overtaken by competitors.

Of the 15 main competitors listed in the report--ranging from centers in San Francisco and Los Angeles to Atlanta and New Orleans--10 contain more exhibit hall space than San Diego, and when compared to facilities in the West, San Diego’s center ranks No. 6 in exhibit-hall space. In meeting space, San Diego ranks 12th.

Eight of the 15 facilities have expansions under way or planned. “These expansions could serve to place the San Diego facility at a competitive disadvantage within a few years after opening,” according to the report.

San Diego’s center is small only in the relative terms of the convention industry. Its main exhibit hall, for example, is the size of 4 1/2 football fields.

Aside from the center’s size, other factors that could hinder the city’s ability to attract more conventions are the size of Lindbergh Field, the relative dearth of direct flights and the inadequate supply of hotel rooms close to the center. But, as the report points out, 2,900 hotel rooms are expected to be built downtown by 1992, to go with the 2,125 that are now within walking distance of the center.

“These expansions of the lodging supply will improve the city’s competitive market position; however, the level of air service will still rank ninth among the selected cities unless appropriate measures are taken,” the report said.

One item not addressed in the Laventhol & Horwath report is how the outdoor, 107,000-square-foot patio area under the San Diego center’s Teflon-coated tents might be used. Since it was designed, the space has been a wild card, and, according to the report, no similar facility exists among San Diego’s main competitors.