Convention Center Expansion May Cost $783.4M
Banking Firm Details Financing Plans
POSTED: 4:21 pm PDT June 15, 2009
UPDATED: 5:06 pm PDT June 15, 2009
San Diego -- The proposed expansion of the San Diego Convention Center would cost $783.4 million, or $821.9 million if an adjoining pedestrian bridge is built, according to an analysis released Monday.The analysis, prepared by the Minneapolis-based investment banking firm PiperJaffray, was presented to Mayor Jerry Sanders' so-called Citizens' Task Force on the San Diego Convention Center.A proposed 500-room hotel at the San Diego Convention Center would cost an additional $200 million, according to the 31-page analysis.If just the Convention Center expansion and pedestrian bridge moves forward, it would cost the city $56.2 million annually to finance the project. That number would drop to $52.5 million if the hotel is built.PiperJaffray's analysis included four hypothetical ways the city could finance the project including:
increasing the tax charged for hotel room stays by 1 percent upping the city's food and beverage sales tax by 1 percent charging a $5 surcharge on rental cars imposing a $2 surcharge for tickets to SeaWorld and the San Diego ZooIf all four proposals were imposed, the city would raise $79.2 million a year, according to PiperJaffray's study.Sanders has said a 300,000-square-foot expansion of the San Diego Convention Center is needed to retain large conventions.The Convention Center generated about $30 million in tax revenue for the city of San Diego last fiscal year, according to the mayor's office.
increasing the tax charged for hotel room stays by 1 percent upping the city's food and beverage sales tax by 1 percent charging a $5 surcharge on rental cars imposing a $2 surcharge for tickets to SeaWorld and the San Diego ZooIf all four proposals were imposed, the city would raise $79.2 million a year, according to PiperJaffray's study.Sanders has said a 300,000-square-foot expansion of the San Diego Convention Center is needed to retain large conventions.The Convention Center generated about $30 million in tax revenue for the city of San Diego last fiscal year, according to the mayor's office.
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