BOSTON -- Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday that his administration will support the construction of a new convention center on Boston's C Street.
At the same time, Menino said he is opposed to the idea of combining a large convention center with a domed stadium for the New England Patriots football team -- the so-called Megaplex.
"The Boston Redevelopment Authority has been intensively researching all of the possible projects and each of the proposed sites," Menino said at a press conference. "What their studies show is that, at this time, Boston and the state would most benefit from an exposition space as opposed to a Megaplex."
Menino said the site was chosen for several reasons. But he said that his first priority was creating jobs in the city.
"At least 2,200 construction jobs will be created," he said. "In addition, a new convention center would be a serious bonus to help tourism and convention business, and would help generate millions of dollars in economic benefits each year."
Menino's announcement comes after more than two years of speculation about what the city would do to stimulate its convention center trade.
Although Boston is home to the Hynes Convention Center, that facility is not large enough to host a major national convention, including the Republican or Democratic presidential nominating conventions.
Menino said that other large groups were hesitant to come to the city for conventions.
"Earlier this year, William Myers of the American Academy of Family Medicine wrote the governor to tell him that his conventioneers would no longer be coming to Boston because of our Current inadequate convention space," Menino said.
But, for the past year, common belief was that the city would try and marry a new convention center with a domed stadium to house either the Patriots or the Boston Red Sox, or both.
Menino said that Patriots owner Robert Kraft has told the city that he plans to improve the team's current home, Foxboro Stadium.
"We would love to try and move the Patriots to Boston," Menino said. "But the fact is, Bob Kraft has already publicly stated that he is making a seven-year to 10-year commitment to Foxboro Stadium. We can't wait."
Additionally, Menino said that since much of the city's convention business occurs during football season, having one facility for both was not feasible.
The mayor's announcement was made in conjunction with the release of an 87-page report from the Boston Redevelopment Authority on the feasibility and impact of a new facility.
The report said the C Street facility would be comprised of 550,000 square feet of exposition space in a facility totaling 1.44 million square feet. The cost would be approximately $438 million.
The report also said that the facility will be open and ready for business in the year 2000 and would generate approximately $225 million in extra revenue for the city and state in its first year.
By the year 2010, the report maintains, that figure would grow to over $420 million.
C Street is located in the Fort Point Channel section of the city.
The next best site, which the report says is on Northern Ave., would cost $556 million. The large difference is due to the expected infrastructure changes that would have to occur to build the facility on Northern Avenue.
The report said that if the facility were financed through the sale of municipal bonds, the expected yearly burden from debt service would be around $35.6 million over 30 years.
The next step for the proposed convention center will be to do further soil and site testing of the C Street area.
Although the report may put a temporary hold on the question of the Patriots, it recommends that the city not hesitate to find and build a new home for the Red Sox.
The current home of the Red Sox, Fenway Park, is one of the oldest stadiums in professional baseball, with little parking and inadequate access to mass transportation.
