Governor Andrew Cuomo sure has been busy this week. As part of his 2016 State of the State agenda, the governor has detailed plans for an expansive, $3 billion revamp of Penn Station; allocated $300 million to bolster New York'senvironmental protection fund; and revealed a program to boost economic development. This morning, Cuomo detailed yet another component of his 2016 plan: to expand the Jacob K. Javits Center by 1.2 million square feet, in an ambitious plan intended to drive more events (and, by extension, cash) to the convention center.
The planned expansion would bring the convention center—already the country's largest such meeting place—to a whopping 3.3 million square feet, and would add five times the meeting space. The proposed expansion could cost as much as $1 billion, and according to Cuomo, construction is expected to begin sometime this year. (We're guessing this means the idea of a Javits-esque convention center at Sunnyside Yards is off the table.)
The expansion would have a few different components, which you can see below in new renderings (created by FXFOWLE) from the Governor's office:
One element would be a new, 58,000-square-foot ballroom, which Cuomo said would the largest such room in the northeast.
The expanded center would have five times the meeting space, thanks to the addition of a new exhibition hall and meeting rooms, which together would add nearly 650,000 square feet to the expanded space.
There would also be 22,000 square feet of "outdoor event space," which would join the convention center's enormous green roof as one of its al fresco amenities.
The expansion would also include a four-level, 633,000-square-foot truck garage which, according to Cuomo, would "move 20,000 trucks off the neighborhood streets."
During the press conference, Cuomo also touted the job creation possibilities of the plan (including 4,000 full-time and 2,000 part-time jobs), along with the fact that it could give a serious boost to the city's hotel industry—more events means more people who need hotel rooms, after all. "The Javits Center is the busiest convention center in the country," Cuomo said. "But we have to grow to stay ahead." Indeed.
Source: Javits Center to Get Even Bigger With $1B Expansion Plan - Coming Attractions - Curbed NY