Moving Forward with the PA Convention Center Expansion

The upcoming expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center will be a leap forward for the City of Philadelphia. The $700 million project is expected to play a major role in stimulating the regional economy, allowing the Convention Center to host more meetings and accommodate larger conventions and tradeshows. The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau has already booked more than $1.2 billion in future business into the expanded convention center. Expansion will also have a major impact on future hotel and hospitality-related business, filling the majority of hotel rooms in Center City, and generating about 2,000 new hospitality-related jobs each year.

The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce is pleased that City Council recently approved a bill to go ahead with the expansion. The bill, which lays out exactly how the expansion will be run and the division of power between city, state and the Convention Center Authority, is a great development for the expansion. Most importantly, an amendment to the bill requires the unions working on the project to abide by City Council’s minority hiring guidelines and submit to oversight of individual minority-inclusion plans. This means that each union is expected to commit to hiring 40 percent minorities and 10 percent women.

This provision is a positive step for diversity and the bill is a positive step for our hospitality business. The Chamber salutes City Council and everyone who worked on the bill for hammering out this fair-minded agreement.

To read more about the expansion click here and here.