The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) is an
exhibition center
A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...
in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts, United States. It is among the largest exhibition centers in the
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
, with approximately 516,000 square feet (about 4.8
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...
s) of contiguous exhibition space. The main exhibition floor comprises three bays which can be isolated for separate shows or linked into one large space.
The center is located on
Summer Street near the
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformat ...
waterfront, Boston's World Trade Center, and across the harbor from
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partial ...
. It is about one block south of the
World Trade Center station on the
MBTA
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network i ...
Silver Line, with direct connections to
South Station
South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan ...
and Logan Airport.
History
In 1997, the owner of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
's
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
—
Robert Kraft
Robert Kenneth Kraft (born June 5, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment ...
—and
Massport tried unsuccessfully to turn the same parcel of land that the convention center is on into the
South Boston Sports Megaplex The Boston Sports Megaplex was a sports megaplex that was proposed in the mid-1990s to replace Fenway Park, Foxboro Stadium, and create a new convention center.
History
The proposed sites for this hybrid convention center-stadium were Summer Stree ...
, with a new home stadium for the football team.
They were unable to get the surrounding neighborhoods to agree with the deal because of concerns about traffic.
The push for a new convention center in Boston came in the late 1990s when the semi-annual
Macworld
''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macin ...
trade show, previously held in Boston each summer, moved to the
Jacob Javits Convention Center
The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, commonly known as the Javits Center, is a large convention center on Eleventh Avenue between 34th Street and 38th Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by architect James I ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It was believed that this move was in part because no single Boston venue could contain the entire show. The center has been controversial because it is located in the
South Boston Seaport, which is some distance from the main concentration of hotels in Boston. However several new hotels have been planned or built near the convention center. The Massachusetts State Legislature authorized the BCEC under chapter 152 of the Acts of 1997, which also provided for redevelopment of the
Springfield Massachusetts Convention Center in Springfield, MA among other actions designed to balance the impact across the state. Chapter 152 authorized the acquisition by eminent domain of approximately of land in the Seaport area of Boston. A subsequent conflict with local politicians resulted in a change of the name of the area to the South Boston Waterfront. The Project was a joint venture of the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, who employed Tishman Construction as its owner's representative on the project. The new convention center was designed by
Rafael Viñoly Architects, New York City, in association with The HNTB Companies, Boston. It opened in June, 2004.
That summer, Macworld returned to Boston as the BCEC's first trade show, but the show's reduced size, due in part to lack of participation by Apple, relegated its 2005 meeting (its last) to the smaller
Hynes Convention Center in Boston's Back Bay.
The Westin Boston Waterfront hotel opened across the street from the BCEC in June, 2006. In 2007, the convention center saw over 1.6 million attendees booking over 1 million hotel roomnights. This equates to an economic impact of over $890 million, according to the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority's 2007 Annual Report.
The New England Auto Show, long a staple for the Bayside Expo Center in the
Dorchester section of Boston, moved to the new BCEC and has signed on through 2009. This show is expected to bring in 90,000 attendees to the convention center. Also in 2007, the BCEC was honored with the 2007 Convention Center of the Year at the Event Solutions Spotlight Awards. Other big shows in 2007 were AIIM/On Demand, the Yankee Dental Congress, and eBay! Live. MCCA proposed expansion in 2007.
In 2009, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority launched the "Top 5 Campaign", aiming to make Boston one of the top five cities in North America for conventions. The initiative recommended increasing the number of local hotel rooms.
PAX moved its eastern show to the convention hall in 2010.
In 2011, the Authority sought approval for a $2 billion expansion. In 2012, the large
Biotechnology Industry Organization
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) is the largest advocacy association in the world representing the biotechnology industry.
It was founded in 1993 as the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and changed its name to the Biotechnology ...
conference said it would not return as scheduled in 2018 without more capacity.
In the 2010s, a new
Indigo Line was proposed under the administration of governor
Deval Patrick
Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...
, using
diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
s, potentially to connect the BCEC to
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...
and the many hotels there. Funding for DMUs was cut by the administration of
Charlie Baker
Charles Duane Baker Jr. (born November 13, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was a cabinet official under two governors of Massach ...
, and
Track 61 was instead converted to test newly manufactured trains for the
MBTA Red Line.
In April 2020, the Convention center was set up as a 1,000 bed
alternate care site
An alternate care site (ACS) is a medical treatment facility established in a non-traditional setting during a public-health crisis (or other event causing strain on local medical resources) as a means of providing additional capacity to deliver ...
for COVID-19 patients, as part of the government response to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Boston
The COVID-19 pandemic in Boston is part of an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID-19) in the Massachusetts city of Boston. The first confirmed case was reported on February1, 2020, and the number of cases began to i ...
, which had also eliminated demand for conferences.
In 2022, governor
Charlie Baker
Charles Duane Baker Jr. (born November 13, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was a cabinet official under two governors of Massach ...
proposed selling the
Hynes Convention Center and investing the proceeds in the BCEC.
As Baker re-launches sale of Hynes Convention Center, debate brews on what might replace it
/ref>
Gallery
Image:LinuxWorldBoston2006.agr.JPG, The 2006 LinuxWorld LinuxWorld has various meanings:
* LinuxWorld Conference and Expo - a series of Linux conferences worldwide that became OpenSource World in 2009
* LinuxWorld Magazine LinuxWorld has various meanings:
* LinuxWorld Conference and Expo
LinuxWorld ...
trade show filled about 2/3 of the north bay at BCEC.
File:Livefloor.jpg, The 2007 eBay Live trade show filled BCEC.
File:BCEC_PAXE_2011.jpg, The 2011 PAX East
File:ASM Microbe 2016.agr.jpg, American Society for Microbiology
The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...
show 2016
See also
* List of convention centers in the United States
This is a list of convention centers in the United States by state or insular area.
By state Alabama
*Bald Rock Lodge (Cheaha State Park)
* Bessemer Civic Center
*Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex
*Bryant Convention Center (Tuscaloos ...
References
External links
Massachusetts Convention Center Authority
Boston Convention and Exhibition Center website
{{Authority control
2004 establishments in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures completed in 2004
Buildings and structures in Boston
Convention centers in Massachusetts
Economy of Boston
Rafael Viñoly buildings
Seaport District
Tourist attractions in Boston