"The plan is to finish the [meeting] rooms and lock them up, and then have the rest of the spaces catch up to them," Resta said during a tour last week.
The expanded Convention Center will feature 79 such rooms, as well as more than a million square feet of sellable space, contiguous exhibit space totaling 528,000 square feet, and the new 55,400-square-foot Terrace Ballroom, being billed as the largest on the East Coast.
The escalators, elevators, and staircases all have been installed in the Arch Street atrium. The Broad Street curtain wall is 60 percent done. Masonry work is nearing completion, and streetscaping, including sidewalks and curbs, has begun on 13th and Arch Streets.
As of mid-July, more than $520 million in contracts had been awarded on the project and 1.23 million hours of work performed, according to Resta.
Hospitality-industry observers say the expansion will allow the center to host larger conventions and handle simultaneous medium-size gatherings and events requiring large amounts of exhibit space, such as the Philadelphia International Flower Show and the Auto Show.
All things the current facility hasn't been able to do.
"The ability to hold concurrent or overlapping midsize groups helps fill gaps in hotel demand that currently exist when the center is dark," such as during setup and teardown periods, said Peter Tyson, vice president of PKF Consulting.
"Finally, in January, February, and early March, when the city's hotels desperately need customers, the expansion will allow the center, for the first time, to attract conventions that require exhibit space," Tyson said.
