May 30--Shortly after it was built 45 years ago, the Fort Worth Convention Center arena was described in a national magazine as looking like a spaceship that had just landed in the heart of downtown.

The arena probably wouldn't be compared to anything space-age today. It's an aging facility that poses a dilemma for city officials: how to update it to complement other recently expanded and much-improved parts of the center in order to keep up with the demanding and highly competitive convention and tourist market, as well as with Fort Worth's population growth.

For years, before the majority of the 14-block center underwent a $75 million renovation, Fort Worth was losing convention business to other cities with larger and more up-to-date facilities. It has regained many of the large meetings that for a time shunned the city.

In any given week, hundreds of people stream into and around the facility, attending events that run the gamut from Scentsy and AdvoCare sales training to cheerleading and bodybuilding competitions, from Jehovah's Witnesses conventions to graduations for high schools as far away as Weatherford and Granbury.

The Republican Party of Texas held its 2012 convention at the center, the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus routinely comes to town.

It was the upgrades that helped attract the Texas Library Association back in April for the first time since 1997.

The Texas High School Coaches Association, a distinctively visible group, will bring about 13,000 folks to downtown in July.

But the coaches dropped Cowtown from their rotation of convention sites for 2015 and 2017, primarily because of insufficient hotel space, said Kirk Slaughter, Fort Worth's public events coordinator.

To stay in the running with other cities for major conventions, the Fort Worth center needs more meeting rooms and another 30,000-square-foot ballroom in addition to the the 10,500-seat arena space, which Slaughter said is attractive for some large groups.

The question now is what to do with the arena that faces Main Street on the north end of the complex: Demolish the domed structure? Build new banquet and meeting rooms there? Construct a flexible space that could house a 9,000-seat arena with retractable seats that also could be used for meetings?

Slaughter and Bob Jameson, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau, are proposing a study much like one that was undertaken 15 years ago and led to the remake of the southern part of the center and the construction of the Omni convention center hotel.

The earlier study is now outdated because of the city's size, the changing nature of conventions -- and work that's already been done.

For instance, one of the original plans was to refurbish the center's theater on the south end of the building, but that performance space was demolished in 2000 to make way for additional meeting areas.

New plans will help the city build on its prospering convention and tourist industry.

It's expected that hotel occupancy taxes generated by convention activity will reach a record $20 million this year, Jameson told Star-Telegram reporter Sandra Baker.

City staff plans to first send out a request for qualifications seeking interested companies, Slaughter said. That will be followed by discussions about the cost of a plan that includes a market analysis of the city's hotel needs.

Officials recognize that more hotel rooms are needed closer to the convention center, but it's also important to not decrease the occupancy rate of existing downtown hotels that have made huge investments in the city. That's why increasing convention business goes hand-in-hand with balanced hotel/motel development.

Any action on the downtown arena will have another domino effect: A large equestrian arena has long been envisioned for construction at or near Will Rogers Memorial Center.

If that facility were built soon, it could help a downtown renovation project by accommodating many of the events that the convention center arena now hosts.

The time is right for this comprehensive study. Fort Worth, now a destination city, can't afford to lose more convention business because of inadequate facilities.

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