Pennsylvania CC

THE PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER Director of Engineering & Capital Projects. But, by the 1980s, the smaller building could not ac- commodate larger events, so regional and state leaders began to plan for a new convention cen- ter in the heart of the city.“The idea was to get a convention center in the center of town to reju- venate the area,”Shepper adds.“So, the politicians and the local people got together and the city constructed the original exhibit hall building and renovated the existing trainshed with the Reading Terminal Market, below.” In 2009, the Center embarked upon a $700,000,000 expansion,which,when completed in 2011, nearly doubled the facility’s size. Shep- per relates that along with the expansion came the creation of a funding mechanism that began providing for even more improvements to the Center.“Starting in 2012,we developed an aggres- sive capital programwith technology at the top of the list, along with a $13 million roofing project, which we’re finishing up in September.We have a design for new restrooms throughout the facility; we just updated our Wi-Fi a year and a half ago, put in a new server room, and upgraded the ca- bling of our AV system.We’re doing façade renova- tions of the exhibit hall building and the historical trainshed.We’re going to do new exterior entrance doors and new carpeting.And we’re going to start renovating our escalators and elevators in the original building.We’re in the midst of finishing a lighting control upgrade; we’re starting to convert to LED lighting, and we’re upgrading our HVAC systems.The expansion is a LEED-certified Gold Building, and eventually,with these modifications, we’ll be looking to get LEED certification on the older building.” Today, the Pennsylvania Convention Center averages about 250 events a year.The Convention Center Authority,which oversees the operation and maintenance of the Center, employs about 13