FORUM ALAN STEEL
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NEW YORK CONVENTION CENTER OPERATING CORPORATION
BY GEORGE SELI
N
what we’re building is essentially a logistics support center. And because we’re adding another 27 loading docks, we can actually get them in and out faster. It will be a huge advantage to our customers. The new ballroom and meeting spaces are directly above the garage, so it’s combined into the design.
ew York has been one of the most embattled U.S. cities during the pandemic, and the Javits Center has certainly done its part to help residents as the number of cases peaked. Last month, the facility concluded its stint as a hospital, and President and CEO Alan Steel now looks forward to reestablishing group business in a more hygienic environment. Q. In general, what are today’s clients looking for in the But like the ongoing Javits Center expansion, the convention design of convention centers? center’s new protocols in the wake of COVID-19 are still a work A. Event producers have been looking for flexibility, and we’re in progress. What venues and groups perceive as necessary trying to give them the maximum amount of flexibility measures is in flux, Steel observes. so they can hold their events in “There is the reaction today, the whatever fashion they want: indoor reaction in three months’ time, the or outdoor, or a combination of both. reaction in 12 months’ time and so Our new ballroom/event space can on. We’re going to do some things accommodate about 6,000 people, now, but it may well be that the things and you can also have 1,500 people we do today we won’t need to do outdoors. So it’s going to be a very tomorrow or we’ll do differently,” he large space in terms of Manhattan’s says. In the following discussion, Steel current availability. addresses the risk-mitigating protocols being considered, the progress of the Q. How will the expansion benefit expansion as well as the outlook for some new and existing clients? “Having spent as much time in Javits Center meetings. A. In terms of existing clients, groups like the National Retail Federation isolation as we have, we know that Q. What is the current timeline for are very much in need of people really want to be together, completing the expansion? additional space, and particularly even if they don’t want to be A. It is due to be completed in March additional meeting space because together closer than six feet.” of 2021. We actually suspended they have very large keynote work on the expansion after the sessions. And we’ve not been able outbreak of COVID-19, and restarted it [last month]. The to give them that space without challenges in the past. In west end is substantially completed from an exterior terms of new customers, for many years a lot of medical perspective; the east end still has to be closed off. We’re conventions have avoided coming to New York, even starting work on interior finishes. though the market is appealing to them because of the density of their customers [in the area]. And that’s Q. What do you consider some of the standout features primarily because we didn’t have the meeting space that of the project? they needed, but now we’ll be able to accommodate them. A. We are going to be LEED Platinum certified. We’ve also So we’re already beginning to see business domestically focused a lot on outdoor spaces, so we have an outdoor and internationally from medical groups and legal groups, pavilion that can also accommodate 1,500 people. Given those who didn’t need a large exhibit space, which is what what we’ve just gone through, outdoor spaces for groups Javits primarily was, but needed a large amount of meeting to congregate may become more popular because they are rooms. less restrictive spaces. And we’re building a one-acre farm up on the roof that will grow herbs and vegetables for use Q. What kinds of measures to prevent contagion are in our kitchens. But one of the most significant elements currently being developed in the convention center of what we’re building is a four-story parking garage that industry, and at Javits in particular? is designed to accommodate not cars, but trucks. One of A. I think the industry will come out with guidelines, but one the challenges in Manhattan is [limited parking] space, so of the challenges will be that different municipalities and
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FACILITIES & DESTINATIONS 2020 SUPERBOOK
