ANAHEIM : Convention Center Expansion Proposed

A $12.5-million expansion of the Anaheim Convention Center that would be paid for by an increase in the city’s hotel tax was proposed Tuesday by the city’s convention industry.

Lynn Thompson, the convention center’s general manager, and William Snyder, president of the Anaheim Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the City Council that an additional 150,000-square-foot exhibit hall is necessary if the city wants to keep its largest conventions.

The expansion, which if approved by the council would be completed in 1993, would give the convention center 374,000 square feet of exhibit space. That would be comparable in size to completed and proposed convention centers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle and Las Vegas, Snyder and Thompson said.

They said the plan and the proposed tax hike, which would increase the transient occupancy tax from 11% to 13%, has the backing of the city’s largest hotels.

“We need this expansion if we are going to keep some very, very important clients,” Snyder said. For example, the semiannual National Woodworking Show, which generates $553,000 for the city and center, will require 312,000 square feet of convention space for its 1993 exhibit and may move elsewhere if the convention center can’t provide it, Snyder said.

“We have identified 20 other conventions we are in danger of losing,” Snyder added.

According to a convention center study, Anaheim conventions in 1989 were attended by 1.6 million delegates, who spent $1.1 billion within Orange County.

City Atty. Jack L. White said the council will consider the expansion proposal next month.