GARDEN GROVE : Officials Weighing a Convention Center

A convention center that would bring a slice of Orange County’s booming tourism and trade-show business to the city is being considered by city leaders and planners.

The proposed facility would not only benefit Garden Grove but adjacent Anaheim, where that city’s convention center has been turning away business because of a shortage of space, according to a representative of the Anaheim facility.

“The idea is just in the exploratory stage,” said David Belmer, an economic-development specialist for the city. ‘We’re going to establish contacts with people in the industry to determine what they’d look for, what they’d want. We’ll make decisions as we go along.”

At the July 2 City Council meeting, Councilman J. Tilman Williams requested that the city explore the construction of a “mini-convention center.” His council colleagues agreed but did not want to limit the potential scope of the project so early.

Orange County’s only major exhibition facility, the Anaheim Convention Center, is located on the Anaheim--Garden Grove border on Katella Avenue between West Street and Harbor Boulevard.

Russell H. Stevens, administrative services manager for the center, said the area’s convention business has been so good that people have been turned away for lack of space. A boom in trade shows, he said, could accommodate a second facility and generate more business for local hotels and restaurants.

Although Garden Grove has announced no potential sites, Stevens said planners of convention-size events seek amenities that would make a location near the border with Anaheim more feasible.