Jackson spends virus relief money to help convention center

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi's largest city is spending $570,000 in federal pandemic relief money to cover costs of running its convention complex that lost business as events were canceled.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told the City Council that the complex would be forced to close without the money to cover utilities and other expenses, the Clarion Ledger reported. The budget year ends Sept. 30.

Marc Arancibia is executive director of Oak View Group Facilities, the company that manages the Jackson Convention Complex. He told city officials that losses from March 2020 to February 2021 were almost $2.5 million, or about 62% of the operating income to run the complex.

The center hosted only three events from October to December 2020, but Arancibia told council members there is momentum in recent months. The center had 20 events from January to March, then 33 from April to June. He said it’s too soon to say if that trend will continue, but most scheduled events have been postponed and not canceled, as people wait to see what happens with the pandemic.

Since the Jackson Convention Complex opened in 2006, it has operated at a loss of between $1.1 million to 1.5 million a year, prompting city officials to consider several proposals to increase revenue. One of those ideas — similar to convention centers in larger cities — has been to develop a nearby or attached hotel. Three attempts to do that have failed.

The city is also tasked with paying off the $65 million bond it took out to build the center in 2006. To help pay the debt, the city passed and pledged a specialty tax on hotels and restaurants. But the revenue hasn’t been enough to pay down the debt.