Sonoma County Tourism starts exploratory phase of convention center effort
North Bay tourism and business leaders could soon learn whether a long-held dream of creating a local convention center has a good chance of becoming reality.
Sonoma County Tourism’s board on Aug. 23 voted to move forward with a two-phase plan to pursue what had been announced in May as a long-term goal for the agency. The first phase would be formation of an advisory council and completion of a feasibility study. If the plan proceeds, a second phase would be site selection.
“The intention is that it will be a place that is not only large enough to accommodate the kinds of events we want, the kinds of meetings we want, but also will set the place as being very Sonoma County,” said Claudia Vecchio, president and CEO.
That may include local artisans the county is known for as well as incorporate the latest advancements in sustainability, she said.
The advisory council would be made up of six to eight local business and civic leaders plus an equal number from the agency’s board. Selection of council members was set to start the week of Aug. 27.
Sonoma County Tourism is considering consultants to conduct the study, which is expected to take six to eight months. One firm being considered is HVS, which has previously worked on convention center projects, Vecchio said.
The tourism agency’s board is set to vote on the advisory council and feasibility study contract at its Sept. 12 annual meeting at Sonoma State University.
While this is the tourism agency’s first foray into such a venue, it’s been part of Santa Rosa Metro Chamber’s strategic plan since before Peter Rumble was named CEO six years ago.
“We don’t have a large convention center space to the extent we need it,” Rumble said. “We lose a fair amount of business to other places in our state and in our country because of that.”
He cites the California Forward economic summit, held in Santa Rosa in November 2018. The forum typically is held in large cities or those with convention centers such as Monterey. To hold it in Santa Rosa, the event had to be split between several venues with enough meeting space, Rumble said.
Santa Rosa’s largest event currently is the North Coast Wine Industry Expo, Trade Show & Conference, with its 11th annual event set for Nov. 30 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
“Selfishly, we’d like to see something like that come in,” said George Christie, founder and CEO of event presenter Wine Industry Network. “But we’ve had great success at Sonoma County Fairgrounds.”
Trouble is, the event has grown to 300 exhibitors this year ― all the fairgrounds can accommodate in its largest buildings, Grace Pavilion and Hall of Flowers ― and 3,000—4,000 attendees. The expo has had a waiting list of 50-100 exhibitors annually and could easily use a venue with space for 500 of them, Christie said.
Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.
