4 years to an expanded convention center - maybe

7 OCTOBER 2013

Another illuminating article has come out on the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center. The Coastal Commission votes Thursday, 10 October, and it's stirred up speculation on timeframes and other theories:

• There's a strong feeling (delusion?) of confidence that it will pass, and there's no need for a Plan B
• Even if everything passes, construction won't begin for somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 months...
• ...And then it'll be about another 30 months until construction is complete.
• Although there was an earlier fear that the expansion had to be complete by 2017 or the Con would leave, the aforementioned confidence seems to have put that to rest. The prevailing thought is that the Con can continue to spread around town. Actual quote: "Now that they’ve spread out, too, there’s less pressure to have expansion at ’17 or ’18. And they can wait a few years. They want the expansion and they need the expansion. But in the interim they have some options as they spread around the community." 

In other words, the best case scenario is that we're 4 years out from a finished and expanded convention center. The Con is booked there through 2016, but it's possible we'll spend a few years past that going to panels in various hotels around the Gaslamp. Of course, it's also possible that the vote fails and we spend 2017 in Anaheim. But let's assume for now their confidence isn't misplaced.