Sep. 21, 2003 - Many agree that the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center is a crown jewel for the city and the region.

But can it compete effectively with other cities' centers? How many bookings does it already have? How many can we look forward to in years to come? And is it really helping the city's image as promised?

The good news is plentiful, but a look at comparative data suggests that the center will have a tough go of it if more hotels aren't built -- and soon. Many cities and regions of comparable size have far more hotel rooms available for meeting attendees, and as a result those cities will have an important competitive edge on Pittsburgh until the locals get their hotel act together.

First, the good news.

The center has been a huge boost to the region's image, said Robert Imperata, executive vice president of the Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"We're really on a roll now. People are seeing it as an architectural winner and a jewel for our skyline. And the users have been very complimentary about the quality and flexibility of the building, the quality of service, the location and a lot of other things," he said.

"And while the image of the building has really taken off, the image of the city and region have gone hand in hand with it and gone up a lot too. It really pulls the city and the region up."

There's more good news.

A look at comparative data prepared in January 2003 by the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau, and released by the Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau shows that the center is in a highly competitive position when it comes to space and other factors.

That's a big improvement over the way things were with the old facility, which was really nothing more than "a box and docks," Imperata said. "It was just a big box with loading docks. There was no pizzazz to it. It was just a bare-bones facility."

Pittsburgh's center ranks 27th out of 60 cities nationwide in the square footage of its exhibit space inside.

That may seem so-so, but look closer at the data. First, the listing includes such cities as Chicago; Atlanta; Orlando, Fla.; New Orleans; Louisville, Ky.; New York, Las Vegas and others -- hardly places that the city would likely compete with for meetings.

But look at cities more likely to compete with us, such as Charlotte, N.C., with 280,000 square feet of exhibit space; Tampa, Fla., with 200,000 square feet; Cincinnati with 162,000; and Cleveland with 375,000. By comparison, Pittsburgh's 330,000 square feet looks pretty good.

There still are such competitive cities as St. Louis, with 506,000 square feet; Indianapolis with 403,000; and Miami with 502,917 all with much more exhibit space.

The new ballroom ranks still higher. The center's new ballroom with 34,000 square feet, outstrips Boston; Nashville, Tenn.; Hartford, Conn.; Philadelphia; Detroit; Atlanta; St. Louis; and many other cities.

And it's getting high marks from conventioneers for its aesthetics, views and flexibility.

Bookings for the dramatic new convention center have skyrocketed since the facility has become a reality.

Thus far, the convention bureau has booked 30 conventions in 2003, far exceeding the 20 that had been projected for the first year of operation. There are 103 bookings up until 2010, with 444,165 attendees expected, 407,163 room nights spoken for and the expectation of $292 million in direct local spending in the region. An additional 60 groups that could bring as much as $144 million in additional spending are now in negotiations.

This year, the 30 conventions will bring $68 million in direct spending and the booking of 77,199 room nights

In 2002, the convention bureau's Web site, www.visitpittsburgh.com, had a record year, with site visits up 21 percent from 2001 to 543,693 -- an average of more than 1,500 visits per day. Hits to the site totaled 8.2 million in 2002, an 18 percent increase over 2001.

However, when it comes to hotel space, comparative data shows that Pittsburgh lags far behind cities considered big competitors for the meetings that the convention center hopes to draw.

On the one hand, Pittsburgh is surprisingly competitive with comparable cities in the number of rooms within one mile of a convention center.

Pittsburgh, with 3,000 such rooms, does better than Cleveland; Louisville; Cincinnati; Columbus, Ohio; Nashville; Phoenix; and a host of other cities.

The cities that are normally thought of as competing with Pittsburgh do only marginally better. Minneapolis has 3,600 such rooms; St. Louis, 3,400; Charlotte, 2,829; and Kansas City, Mo., 2,800.

But if you look at the number of rooms of the three largest hotels only -- and again, within one mile of a center -- Pittsburgh does much worse.

Pittsburgh has 1,926 and ranks 30th among 60 cities, while St. Louis, for instance, has 2,380, ranking 18th; Boston has 3,286 and ranks 11th; Baltimore has 2,079 and ranks 25th; and Cincinnati has 1,979 and ranks 27th.

It gets worse when you look at the total number of hotel and motel rooms in the region.

Pittsburgh, with 14,000 rooms, ranks 43rd of 60. St. Louis ranks 19th with 32,000, Columbus is 30th with 21,227; Louisville is 38th with 17,000; and Tampa is 14th with 39,878.

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(c) 2003, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.