Business View Magazine - July 2016 83
holistic approach to this area,” he says. “Part of the
renovation project – across the street from the build-
ing in what was previously a surface parking lot - is
going to be a community park that will also serve as
an extension of the Convention Center where we can
do programming. There will be a food and beverage
pavilion, as well as a veterans’ memorial, honoring the
veterans from Miami Beach.”
The MBCC is owned by the City of Miami Beach and the
funding for its operations, as well as its capital invest-
ments, comes through tax dollars raised via visitor-re-
lated taxes from both the city and county governments.
Spectra Venue Management, under contract with the
City, has operated the Convention Center since 2008.
Hollander reports that while the renovation is ongoing,
the facility will be operating in just half of its space
with an abridged staff of 45 full-time employees. “Our
event load is reduced,” he states. “We would normal-
ly host, between large and small events, in excess of
150. This year, that number was reduced to about 50.
And next year, because we’re actually going to shut
down for a period of about four months, while some
of the major demolition of an existing portion of the
building takes place, we’re only going to be hosting 17
events during the course of the year.”
Hollander says that one of the objectives of the reno-
vation is to ultimately broaden the facility’s customer
base. “We historically have had a very strong mix of
trade shows and consumer shows in this building that
have been attractive to a local and wider regional au-
dience,” he says. “One of the goals of the renovation
is to better establish our position with regard to con-
ventions and meetings on a national and international
basis, generating a lot more out-of-town visitors and
generating more overnight room stays in the hotels in
