🔒At 20, the CT Convention Center is at a crossroads

The Connecticut Convention Center turned 20 this year — a milestone that comes as both the Hartford landmark and broader convention industry confront new challenges.

One man with a little perspective on those headwinds is Michael Costelli. He’s been general manager at the Convention Center since it opened in 2005. “There had never been a convention center in Connecticut of this size,” he said in a recent interview. “It took a little time to gather some momentum. It was not only trying to go out and sell ourselves where there had never been such a building, but it was also training and teaching staff.” But that momentum built, and the staff eventually came on board. In fact, Costelli says, more than half of his current staff have worked at the facility for more than a decade. He has 82 full-timers, and an additional slate of 270 casual employees he can call on for special events. Over its two decades, the Convention Center has hosted some 3,000 events and more than 6 million visitors. Developer Len Wolman was part of the team that came up with the vision for having a convention center in Hartford as part of what was then the Adriaen’s Landing development. “Right between New York and Boston is just an incredible location,” he said. “You can draw from both Massachusetts and New York into Connecticut. We do that with tourists every summer, and we have the same opportunity when it comes to business.” The facility is costly to operate and has typically run an annual deficit, covered by state appropriations. In fiscal year 2026, it’s projected to post a $5.6 million shortfall. But Michael Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, says the state has more than recouped that money over time through visitor spending and job creation tied to the facility. “Generally speaking, it produces more in tax revenues than the operating subsidy has been,” he said. “Excise taxes, hotel taxes, parking taxes, sales taxes, employment taxes, payroll. These tax generations go into the state budget.”

‘Catch-22’

But that math was severely challenged — along with the very survival of the Convention Center — by the COVID-19 pandemic. The building closed to the public during the lockdowns, and the companies that were the backbone of its business took their meetings online. “We ​worked ​with ​the ​National ​Guard ​in ​getting ​(the) ​facility ​open ​as ​a ​600-bed field hospital,” Costelli said of the early pandemic days. “Thankfully, ​it ​never ​had ​to ​be ​used.” After that, the lower lobby was converted into one of the largest vaccination centers in the state, allowing Costelli to keep many of his staff busy. But the challenges would continue long after the lockdowns ended. The pandemic spurred innovation in remote meeting technologies for the businesses that had previously used the Convention Center for two- or three-day in-person events. And while that business is slowly rebounding, it still hasn’t reached its previous levels. It’s also complicated by another pandemic-era dynamic. “COVID wiped out some 700 (hotel) rooms in downtown,” Freimuth said. “Plus, it impacted hotels in the region. Recapturing that is difficult.” That means even if the Convention Center can once again attract the number of overnight business guests it used to host, there aren’t enough places for them to sleep. “It’s a bit of a catch-22 in that you need a certain level of hotel rooms at certain price points to book certain events,” he said. “But, unless you book those events, it’s hard to underwrite the cost of the hotels.” And that dynamic has meant the Convention Center has had to get creative in recent years with the mix of business it attracts. “We’re trying to pivot, so to speak, and generate more food and beverage business, some more local-type meetings and banquets, and then doing these ticketed public shows,” Costelli said. He’s referring to highly successful public events like the recent immersive show “Beyond Monet / Beyond Van Gogh.” The Convention Center has partnered with a Canadian company, Paquin Entertainment, to bring such events to its exhibition hall, and it’s not just hosting them — it has a financial stake in their success. Costelli is also interested in branching out into the concert business. He says the Convention Center could offer a space to seat around 1,200 to 2,500 patrons. That would make it appropriate for acts that need somewhere smaller than the PeoplesBank Arena, but bigger than the Infinity Music Hall on Front Street, which seats around 650. Meanwhile, the sheer cost of running a massive building like the Convention Center has forced the management team to get creative with event bookings. “If we get three small events on three different days, it costs more to do it than if we put three small events in the building on one day,” Freimuth said. “So, you might see the same number of events, but less days open.” The shift toward more day-trippers and fewer overnight visitors has also altered the Convention Center’s value proposition for the city and state. “You have less impact in the neighborhoods and in the streets,” Freimuth said. “You come in, you do your business and go home as opposed to coming and staying in the evening, maybe visiting a theater or going to a game or taking in a restaurant. It changes the way you earn off of the building.”

‘Million-dollar exercise’

Another challenge is the building’s age, and the cost of maintenance and renovations. CRDA has around $5 million in its budget for each of the next two years to carry out necessary upgrades to the building, but Freimuth says a lot of that goes into the basic mechanical or electronic systems that keep the facility going. “I mean, recarpeting this building is a million-dollar exercise,” he said. Event planners considering the venue also look for modern amenities for their attendees, such as state-of-the-art communications technology. “They expect your building to have these features,” Freimuth said. Above all, Freimuth doesn’t want the Convention Center to fall into the same trap that has plagued the PeoplesBank Arena, where years of deferred maintenance led to a renovation bill of more than $100 million, a lengthy closure that began this year, and even an existential debate about its future. “We don’t want to make that same mistake twice with the Convention Center,” he said.