By LUCIA VITI | Downtown News

The San Diego Convention Center is celebrating its pearl anniversary – 30 years as an iconic San Diego landmark.

Since opening its doors in 1989, nearly 6,000 national and international meetings, conventions, sports, and entertainment events have contributed approximately $26.4 billion in revenue to the regional economy, cementing the convention center as an important “economic engine” for America’s Finest City.

In 2018 alone, $1.1 billion was infused into San Diego’s local economy. Total tax revenues tallied $24.7 million, used to pay for local municipalities including fire and police protection, street, park and beach maintenance, and library and recreation services.

“The convention center has been a great investment for San Diego’s local economy,” said Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, CVE, president and CEO of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation. “Each year, our events and their attendees generate over a billion dollars in regional economic impact. We also support the city of San Diego’s general fund with the hotel and sales tax revenue generated from visitors, with $24.7 million in the last fiscal year, alone.”

The convention center’s history dates back to 1983 when city voters approved a proposal to build the waterfront property. The Port of San Diego, a public agency responsible for the tideland property lining San Diego Bay, agreed to fund the project for $165 million with no “debt service.” The port leases the convention center to the city of San Diego for $1 per year.

The City Council then established the San Diego Convention Center Corporation to manage and operate the completed facility. A nine-member board of directors direct the nonprofit, public benefit corporation.

The San Diego International Boat Show was the convention center’s inaugural event. Since then, events chosen in partnership with the San Diego Tourism Authority, have covered the gambit.

Notables include the 1996 Republican National Convention, which hosted 30,000 attendees and generated $160 million in economic impact; the Microsoft Professional Developer’s Conference and Exchange Conference; several Super Bowl media centers; “Wheel of Fortune”; Major League Baseball’s FanFest, which hosted more than 100,000 people; numerous medical conventions and trade shows; along with its most popular event, Comic-Con International, which consistently draws the year’s largest crowds.

The original 1.7 million-square-foot space of waterfront property has gone through multiple expansions and infrastructure improvements. In 2001, an expansion doubled the space to 2.6 million total gross square feet.

As the convention center grew, so did its list of high honors. In 1999, the popular destination was named one of the top three convention centers in the world by Meetings and Incentive Travel Magazine.

“We are consistently rated as one of the top five convention centers in North America,” continued Rippetoe. “We are the region’s premier gathering place from a design and service perspective. San Diego — the total package for hosting conventions — offers a world-class convention facility in the heart of Downtown, with close proximity to an international airport and hotels within walking distance. Plus, San Diego is full of attractions, beaches and sunshine.”

Rippetoe also tipped his hat to the convention center’s dedicated employees.

“Our employees are our greatest assets,” said Rippetoe. “Our dedicated staff embraces and lives out our core values: integrity, service, collaboration, courage, and accountability.”

Additional awards include one of San Diego’s “Great Places To Work” by the San Diego Society for Human Resource Management; a National Inner Circle Award from Association Meetings for excellence in service, flexible meeting space, and high quality food and beverage; Leadership In Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council; a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council; and a Tech Hero award from the Technology Foundation of America.

The facility also received a Level Three Sustainability Certification to the APEX/ASTM – Environmentally Sustainable Event Standards.

Level Three is noted to be a significant industry achievement as it’s specifically tailored for the meeting and events industry. Performance criteria includes staff management policy, communications, waste management, energy, air quality, water, procurement, and community partners.

The San Diego Convention Center Corporation is extremely proud of their sustainability efforts, which includes industrial sorters for recycling plastics, aluminum, metal and other materials; the conservation of water with low-flow, automated sinks and toilets in its restrooms; and the replacement of more than 11,650 of the original light fixtures to energy-efficient LED bulbs.

In 2019, its kitchens, void of garbage disposals, composted 178 tons of non-edible food.

In addition, unserved event food is donated to the San Diego Rescue Mission. Nearly 80 tons of “untouched food” was donated to the mission — enough to plate 127,000 meals. The San Diego Rescue Mission shares that food with more than 90 local nonprofit organizations.

The convention center has also been named “Recycler of the Year” seven times by the City of San Diego.

In 2017, the Port’s Green Business Network titled the center with an Overall Sustainable Achievement for Large Businesses and featured it as an environmental champion in their “Greenwork Makes the Dream Work” campaign.

Additional kudos include a 2018 Gold Award for the Best Convention Center in the Western United States by the 2018 Prevue Visionary Awards and recognition by Global DMC Partners as the No. 1 destination for meetings and conferences for 2020 in this year’s Global Destination Index.

San Diegans will be able to choose whether to invest in maintenance and expand the convention center through a hotel tax, which will be on the ballot in March.

— Lucia Viti can be reached at [email protected].