New management could be on tap for the Jackson Convention Complex (JCC).
The Capital City Convention Center Commission has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a new firm to manage the center.
The nationwide request was issued in December, about three months after the Lumumba administration called on the commission to replace the current convention center management firm, SMG World.
In September, Lumumba told the council that SMG had failed to meet its budget and needed more than $130,000 from the city to keep the downtown facility open through the end of the year. The mayor urged the council to approve that request, while at the same time saying that new management for the center was needed.
However, Commission Chairman Fred Banks said the RFP was not an indication that the commission was displeased with SMG’s performance, nor was it in response to the administration’s request. “We’ve done this before, to see what’s out there and whether other groups would have an interest in managing the center, and whether there are other proposals that are preferable,” he said.
SMG is invited to respond to the RFP as well. Responses are due to commission by February 4, according to a copy of the RFP.
Al Rojas, who manages the convention center on behalf of SMG, couldn’t be reached for comment.
The Pennsylvania-based firm has overseen the center since it opened in 2009. In that time, the center has never been profitable, nor has it generated the economic impact for local business promised prior to the its opening.
Fiscal year 2018 saw a $1.4 million lost, about $21,000 more than in fiscal year 2017, according to annual reports. The number of events held also dropped year over year, from 151 in 2017 to 136 in 2018.
Citing decreased revenues, in September, the Lumumba administration asked the council to approve a $131,000 allocation to keep the center open through the end of the fiscal year.
The council later provided an allocation of about half that amount.
JCC opened in 2009, about five years after voters approved a ballot referendum to fund the project’s construction.
Prior to the vote, experts estimated the center would generate $66 million a year in new spending for the capital city.
Convention centers are designed to drive economic development by attracting new people to a particular area.
The idea is that convention goers will shop at local businesses, eat at local restaurants and stay at local hotels, which would benefit local establishments.
While experts projected $66 million in new spending, actual numbers have fallen well short.
Between 2012 and 2018, the center had an annual average economic impact of around $20 million. In 2018, the center’s economic impact was $15.4 million, according to that year’s annual report.
Banks said the convention center has failed to meet expectations, in part, because of the lack of a convention center hotel.
Complex officials have long argued that they’ve been unable to attract major conventions and conferences to the center, because of the hotel issue.
“There were several things we anticipated when the convention center was built that have not occurred,” Banks said.
He also points to the unsightliness of the parking area across the street from the center.
The center is located at 105 E. Pascagoula St., between Farish and Lamar streets.
Across from it on Pascagoula is a large site that is currently used for convention center parking.
The area, however, is not a single paved lot, but rather a mish mash of multiple concrete slabs surrounded by a chain link fence.
Plans to develop the roughly eight-acre site have not come to fruition.
In 2008, the late Mayor Frank Melton entered into an $11 million “gentlemen’s agreement” with Texas-based developer TCI to build a hotel and parking garage on acreage across the street from the convention complex.
However, in 2011, the Jackson Redevelopment Authority (JRA) rejected the proposal because of the financial risk it would have placed on the city.
According to previous reports in the Sun, TCI had asked the authority to issue between $90 million and $95 million in bonds to pay for the project’s construction. The firm wanted Jackson to essentially backstop the project, meaning if TCI was unable to pay the bonds, the city would take up payments.
Then, in June 2013, shortly before leaving office, Mayor Harvey Johnson announced that he had struck a deal with the Callen Group to build a $60 million, 305-room hotel on the property.
That deal fell through because of state law. State statute required Jackson and JRA to go through a bidding process before selecting a proposal. However, no RFP had been issued before Callen had been selected, officials with JRA previously told the Sun.
The Lumumba administration is now hoping to turn the acreage into a mixed-use development, with a hotel and parking garage to be part of the first phase.
The city began talks with two potential developers in the summer. It was not known when those talks would wrap up.
