Convention center expansion plan blocked

4 AUGUST 2014

Image courtesy of San Diego Metro

If you've been following the saga of the planned expansion for the convention center, you'll be interested to know that the California appellate court struck down the plan to fund the $520 million expansion.

Foes of the plan - led by attorney Cory Briggs - have long objected to the strategy of taxing hotel owners to pay for the expansion. The court ruled that the tax violates the state constitution. In return, mayor Kevin Faulconer said the expansion was "critically important" for the local economy, as are large events like SDCC. The additional 740,000 square feet would give the convention center "the largest amount of contiguous floor space on the West Coast." What wasn't said: how many extra attendees that will accommodate.

All along I've assumed the expansion was a done deal, prone to typical legal wranglings and power moves, but ultimately a sure thing. Now I'm not sure at all. "The appellate ruling likely means the expansion won’t happen anytime soon. Comic-Con is committed to San Diego only through 2016."

Ominous words, but I sense that CCI wants to keep the Con in San Diego - and if we know anything about CCI, it's that change isn't their native tongue. We also know they trademarked "Los Angeles Comic-Con." So I still believe we'll see a new Con hive off SDCC before we see the entire show up and move out of state. Or more, likely, we won't see any change at all.