Dec. 26--BUENA PARK, Calif.--Ed B. Jay had it all planned: He would build a 325-room hotel, renovate the adjacent Sequoia Center and then market them to national companies and associations for meetings and exhibitions of 2,000-3,000 people. 

That, at least, was his plan on Sept. 1, when he took over as executive officer of the conference center. 

Ten days into the plan, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred. 

As he watched 70 percent of his bookings cancel that month and saw national companies drastically cutting back on travel, he realized he needed a new plan. Fast. 

Jay, a real estate developer who previously specialized in resort developments, called in experts who agreed there had been a major, possibly permanent, change in the meeting business. 

Long distance and big meetings were out. Local travel and videoconferencing were in. 

So Jay embarked on Plan B: The hotel would be deferred at least a year, and the conference center would refocus on smaller meetings and exhibitions with companies and groups within 50 miles. Videoconferencing in each meeting room would meet any long-distance communication needs. 

It wasn't his preference, but it was the reality of the post-Sept. 11 world. 

"It's not that we made a mistake (with the original plan), but you are going to have to respond," Jay said. "You have to be nimble." Jay had his work cut out for him even with the original plan. The Sequoia Center, with two ballrooms, eight large meeting rooms and a full-service health club, had been in business 18 years, yet it was little-known outside the immediate vicinity. 

The bread-and-butter business was weddings and quinceañeras and annual high school sports award banquets with the occasional computer show, Muslim religious service and U.S. citizenship swearing-in ceremony. 

Sequoia's health club was probably even better-known than the conference center, as evidenced by the signs off Beach Boulevard and Orangethorpe Avenue that say, "Sequoia Athletic Club" with no mention of the conference facilities. 

Jay's original plan a year in the making was for a $15 million renovation of the conference center. It called for removing the 40-lane bowling alley and replacing it with a third dividable ballroom. The meeting rooms would handle groups up to 400. 

Plan B which added $5 million to the cost keeps the three ballrooms, but creates 22 smaller meeting rooms which can serve groups as small as 25. 

The new direction means handling multiple groups at one time which will require additional kitchen facilities and 50 more people for the staff of 200. 

Jay already has upgraded food service, hiring Dan Paymar, the former chef at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach. 

When it's all finished in six months, Jay hopes to market the conference center as the premier stand-alone meeting and exhibit facility in Southern California. 

The weddings and other social events will continue on weekends. 

Michael Krouse, assistant director of sales at the Anaheim Hilton, said the new focus is a good niche that doesn't compete with large hotels like his or the Anaheim Convention Center. 

"Buena Park really needs a conference center," said Krouse, who used to work in Buena Park. "It's definitely a regional type of thing. I think they will even draw from the Pacific Northwest and Northern California." Jay said the repositioning already is beginning to pay off, with bookings from December through April up 20 percent over last year. 

Armstrong Garden Centers, based in Glendora, is among the groups that previously "discovered" the center and are coming back. 

Rick Pion, an Armstrong corporate trainer, is planning a trade show and product training seminar for 400 people in January. 

"It's centrally located for our business and they have the facilities we need at a reasonable price," Pion said. 

Jay downplays the sudden turnaround he was forced to make just days into the project. 

"I think what we did is parroting the American spirit," he said. "You don't let adversity knock you down. You get up and find out how to move forward." 

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(c) 2001, The Orange County Register, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.