NY governor Andrew Cuomo has unveiled bold new plans to significantly expand convention space at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Center.
A new wing of 1.2 million square feet will be constructed at a cost of $1 billion comprising exhibition space, conference rooms and a huge ballroom.
The Center currently has 840,000 square feet of exhibition space.
The 60,000 square feet ballroom will be the largest in the Northeast, Cuomo said.
"This will be the convention center for the next generation. Just as our founding fathers in their boldness made the New York that we enjoyed and celebrated," Cuomo said.
"It’s now our obligation to build the New York for the next generation, and that’s what this is."
The Javits Center was built in 1986 and recently completed a $500 million refurbishment, but is still considered too small as the main convention facility for a city of New York’s stature.
"We’ve watched as cities like Chicago and cities like Orlando build massive, state of the art convention centers and every convention that we lose is lost revenue," said Peter Ward, president of the Hotel and Motel Trades Council.
Construction is slated to begin this year and will generate an estimated 6,000 new jobs.
