The Capital City Convention Center continues to lose money but is gaining ground this year. JJ obtained a copy of the 2015 annual audit and the most recent quarterly financial statements through a public records request. The audits are posted below.
Some highlights of the annual audit are:
*The convention center lost $4.1 million in 2015 and $4.2 million in 2014. However, the convention center recognized a depreciation expense of $2.5 million in each year. Thus the actual operating loss was $1.6 million in 2015 and $1.7 million in 2014.
*The operating expenses were $6.3 million while the revenue was $2.0 million in 2015. The expenses include the depreciation expense mentioned earlier. The operating revenue is space rental fees, food services, and auxiliary services.
*Event revenue was $463,419 in 2015. It was $583,955 in 2014. The ancillary revenue was $1.66 million.
*Management fees are $242,039 in 2015. The convention center pays SMG a base management fee of $119,394 in monthly installments. The convention center also paid SMG $122,645 for food service.
*The convention center receives sales tax revenue of $4.6 million but debt service (for bonds) eats up $3.9 million. Thus the convention center only received $700,000 in sales tax revenue.
The mid-year financial statement (ending on March 31, 2016) shows some improvement in the convention center's piggy bank. Some highlights of the most recent quarterly financial statements are:
* The loss narrowed on a YTD basis from -$1.7 million in 2015 to -$682,482 on March 31, 2016. That was an improvement of over a million dollars. The improvement came from a million dollar reduction in payments to the city of Jackson. The reduction occurred due to a bond refinance. Hopefully, this change will allow the convention center to cut its operating loss in half.
*The YTD income is $2.3 million. It improved by over $40,000 from 2015. Thank you, Governor.
However, the annual audit just had to make this statement:
The absence of the convention center hotel has a significant negative impact on the convention center as well as reduced rental income and food and beverage income in the convention center.
62 comments:
Failure exactly as it was predicted to be.
What is the Telcom center?
Yes, but look at all the vibrant nightlife and hip millennials it's brought to SoDoJax.
Y'all are so negative it is almost funny. Almost. I've never seen a more anti-city group of people than on this here blog. I hope the joy you don't possess in the comments section does not mirror that in your real life.
OAN: I really came over here to comment on the thug that shot into the car on I20 the other day. Not a word has been written that I can find. Again, almost funny.
Please answer this question. Who in their right mind would come to Jackson unless forced to? Look at the crime. Look at the gravel streets. Look at the lack of reliable water. Look at the crooked police force. Look at the lack of entertainment. Look at the lack of places to go.
Things will not get better.
Never got a statement from Rankin County. I've posted plenty of times about Rankin County crime.
June 10, 2016 at 1:17 PM = Yaaawwwwnnnnn SSSSnnnnnorrreeee ZZZZZZZzzzz
There is truth in the statement about the lack of a hotel near the center affecting bookings.
1:18 and the rest of you negative people, all you do is look at the down side of everything. I live here and work here and attend events Downtown, in Fondren... You have NO idea what you're blathering about. If my mother hadn't taught me better, I would tell you to SHUT UP!
Downtown Jackson is a vibrant area with lots of nightlife. Only thing is that it's not attractive to rednecks and lowlife- especially those from across the river in niknar land.
During campaign for Convention Center special tax voters were told repeatedly it would break even and do so without hotel.
A smart man knows his limitations. From the beginning, had the Jackson, leadership realized that, there could have been a lot of errors prevented. For a $75,000,000. investment to generate the meager income this black hole produces is a farce. The leaders consider themselves experts in all categories. Debt and liabilities don't phase dimocraps. Guess what? The lawyers and accountants are not going to manage your business. They collect fees for consultation. Likely they will not solve your problem, unless you know what questions to ask. Convert the damn place to city government office space, and move on.
Very few convention centers make money and these figures don't reflect the revenue generated outside of the convention center related to events at the convention center. That said, convention centers are not the best place to put tax payer money these days.
It is a jewel of a money pit for the right folks.
Rankin residents come to Jackson to work. The very taxes that keep this city alive are the businesses who employ a great deal of the suburban residents who brave the decaying streets, crime, and lack of any real progress within the city or it's government.
1:48
If you are serious, rather than sarcastic, about the vibrant downtown filled with awesome nightlife, then Junior you need to visit a real city and see what real vibrant downtown and nightlife is. Quit lying to yourself about Jackson. You apparently spend too much time in mama's basement.
I can see it now, conventions want to come here for what?
A chance at being involved in a drive by?
Nobody said anything about making money. The proposition was that it would break even not lose millions annually. The economic impact estimates are just that, estimates, and totally bogus.
@ 1:18 The same could be said of Mississippi as a whole. Pretty much sucks. But instead of bashing it ad nauseam, think of how much better Jackson and MS could be if people worked to improve it. Jackson has theatre, museums, restaurants, night clubs, universities....
@ Kingfish I guess....
@ 1:28 For your elementary school level "insult" you receive a gold star! Think of it as your participation trophy for the day.
3:06
There are many cities in MS that have theater, museums, restaurants, night clubs, and some also have universities. Hell, even Laurel has at least 4 of the 5 you listed.
There is NOTHING special about Jackson, and plenty of things about it that keep other people from wanting to come here.
... think of how much better Jackson and MS could be if people worked to improve it ...
What do you suggest people should do? Please be specific because the generalities are old.
The convention center in Jackson is a failure. Unfortunately, it is poorly designed, poorly located, and horribly managed.
When you can't draw people to your facility you may have several reasons. Location (who wants to come to Jackson where you can't leave your house after dark), cost (look at the price of booking the convention center in relation to the cost of booking a convention at Silver Star or in Tunica), and amenities (again, it's Jackson. What are people to do, go hang out at Hal and Mal's?). Unfortunately, that building has very little going for it and will forever be an albatross around the neck of Jackson.
If you would like to see proper event and building management, you have to look no further than what Bill Holmes did for years down in Biloxi. The Coast Coliseum and Convention Center actually made money and hosted great concerts and events. Even with the addition of new facilities in New Orleans and Pensacola over the years, it has still been able to draw quality events, not just roller derby and small-time events.
Maybe if the City of Soul should try to attract top talent and professionals of ALL RACES that could get it out of the ruin it has created for itself on all fronts. Unfortunately, that will not happen in my lifetime .After all, this is the same city that elected a mayor that won't even pay his own mortgage and take responsibility for his own failures.
Money pit or honey hole?
All depends who you are and what you do!
@ 3:53 - stop bashing Jackson, live here, shop here, eat here, volunteer here, donate to organizations doing work in the city, worship here...it's not hard.
Yup, 3:53. Do all that stuff because Jackson's political class needs a bigger cash cow herd to milk dry.
Members of national organizations nominate their home city to host a future convention and sell the other members that is great place to visit. Can any of you see someone trying to sell Jackson?
Niknar doesn't do Fondren First Thurdsay, attend events at the distillery or brewery, attend a concert at Thalia Mara or Duling, or catch a movie on the lawn at the art museum. Niknar gets half-price apps at Applebee's.
I've only been to one convention in my entire life. In the early Seventies, our grandfather, who was on the board, took us all down to Biloxi (or Gulfport, or whatever...) to the Federal Land Bank Convention, at the grand(ish) old Buena Vista Hotel, which may have been connected to the Edgewater Gulf or the Broadwater Beach or whatever. My grandfather used to give my grandmother diamond jewelry, whenever his ('New York wealthy', as opposed to 'Misssissippi wealthy') cousins were coming down from Greenwich and Westchester (those, having wisely fled the South, in their youth). So, Grandmother got to wear her diamonds. And we kids got to run around a big old quirky hotel, discover the remnants of 'The Maze', etc. .
It was nice, because we did NOT have to pile into cars to go ANYWHERE, the whole time. The venue was tired and tacky, and had never really been much. But, because we basically needed only to walk and take elevators, to the ballrooms and the restaurants, it was a pleasant outing for the extended family (imagine Big Daddy and Big Momma, down from the Delta, traveling with Goopuh and Sustah Woman and all the little No-neck Monsters - and with Brick & Maggie & the offspring they produced, to stay 'in the will' - squeezed in amongst the others - and you've basically got the picture: two big, ugly Chryslers, packed with unpleasant Mississippians.
Based on that one experience, I'm imagining that having a convention hotel CONNECTED TO the Convention Center would, indeed, make the venue more viable. However, I'm NOT imagining the scheme's actually making money. If there is an air-conditioned walkway connecting the Convention Center with the hotel, then logistics will be simplified. The locals will not be able to accost convention-goers, and nobody will have to get their nice convention clothes sweated-up, walking across 120 Degree blacktop parking lots to hotel shuttle buses. ANY wait, outdoors, in Mississippi, will ruin the hair, ruin the clothes, and ruin the mood.
Is the above-described convenience worth a few million lost Dollars per year? Personally, I'm saying NO!!!
Isn't there a perfectly good convention venue (complete with skywalk) in existence on Capitol Street, ALREADY? My lockbox is in that complex, but I've never stopped to wonder whether there's an hotel in the mix. Is there one? If so, why did anyone feel the need to build the Convention Center?
My post office box is downtown. But I'm ashamed to say that I've never noticed the Convention Center. It must not look like much. Not that I drive around, exploring Downtown. Who'd want to? And that's the point, isn't it?
Even with a drab, ugly, new 'Institutional Modern' convention center, connected to a drab, ugly new 'Mid-century Modern' hotel, WHO'D WANT TO?
(Upon further reflection, I DID, once, go to a two-day 'happening', related to my profession, hosted by the Ritz Carlton in Atlanta. We stayed at that hotel, where we were supposed to go to various little get-togethers in intimate little bars and libraries or something. I was under the thumb of my bosses, accompanying them, keeping my mouth shut, making them look important, with my great body and expensive clothes. I was too busy not saying anything, not slouching, responding appropriately to The Bosses' every utterance, not "acting too much like a model", not smiling TOO much, not scowling, not making eye contact with anyone - any of which, The Bosses would view as a threat or an affront - and so didn't pay much attention to our surroundings. There were lectures and tours, around town, and a beautiful luncheon on an historic lawn, somewhere, catered by the Ritz, involving white tents and gilded chairs. Does this count as a "convention"?)
Come to Jackson! The sun shines bright, the pot holes are wide and deep, and the crack houses stretch as far as the eye can see. There are no jobs, and land is cheap. Every working man who still lives here are over taxed and his own house broken into, and inside every house, a upset, all-American family who just got their water bill. You can have all this, and who knows... you could even be shot, and be scene on wlbt 3 as the next crime victim. . Life is good in Jackson, Mississippi... it's paradise on Earth." That's what they tell you, anyway.
Look at Shreveport. They have a convention center, a hotel, adjacent parking. Nearby are casinos, dining, business, a strip joint. Yet the convention complex there is sucking wind too. And the hotel would be shuttered if not for the city contract.
Now look at Memphis, Biloxi, and Mobile. All nice convention centers and nearby hotels.
Even Tupelo, Vicksburg and Hattiesburg have a dumpy convention center.
The point is that the market is saturated within 50-250 miles of Jackson. Each offers more stuff to do and safety.
Why would anybody book a convention is this redneck, racist crime ridden dump is a mystery to me.
The voters were scammed into voting for a monorail. It's what we have....a useless monorail.
Please have 6:39pm put down whatever the hell he/she is smoking. Good grief that's the worst attempt at a therapy couch story I've ever heard.
Awful.
The point is that the market is saturated within 50-250 miles of Jackson.
Convention center market over-saturated nationwide. One of the major taxpayer scams of the past 30-40 years. Heywood Sanders predicted down to the last penny of red ink that building a convention center in Jackson was going to be a disaster. It was and it is.
Here is what happened to me when I tried to book a two-day rental: I was told I could be bumped at anytime by a larger group event.
We went back to the decrepit Trade Mart.
6:39 probably did it just to torture YOU, 9:35. Have you seen The Comfort of Strangers?
Didn't Yates build this thing too? They sure always seem to benefit from these obscene wastes of tax payer dollars one way or another.
The Convention Center is an absolute loser. First, the big convention market is dwindling with virtual meetings, tighter budgets, and federal and other governmental restrictions on conferences (see Tunica...demolishing casinos...ever heard of a casino being torn down to increase business?!) Second, why in Gods name would anyone outside of the state of Mississippi come here for a convention...you have to first pay excessive flight costs because you literally can not get here reform anywhere. You have to fly somewhere, anywhere else to fly in to Jackson (+$$) , then you have to hire an armored monster truck to get you through the infrastructure apocalypse / Thunderdome ( although, bouncing all over the ceiling of your vehicle does make you a harder target for stray bullets) to your overpriced hotel that doesn't meet indoor air quality (see King Edward pigeon problem) standards for human habitation and oh yeah, don't forget your hot plate for the boil water notice so that you can use the tap water . Then you to wake up to gunfire in the morning and have to wander across vacant lots while being accosted by urban entrepeneurs en route to the palacial site of your conference. Once there you will be greeted by the cackles and shrieks of gangs of employees generally grab-assing who could care less if you have tables, chairs or whatever you takin about Mr I ain't from Jackson trying to come here tell me I need to get some chairs...I ain't got time for this girl...and then there is the nightlife...yeah, so who the hell other than some state agency that requires use of the facility for "economic development" is going to use this place...I would like to add a disclaimer...I've never been to Fondren first whatever night it's on and I do work in Jackson but live elsewhere, so clearly I don't know what I'm taking about because only people who live under a collapsing overpass in Kenefville can have a valid opinion on what's really wrong with Jackson.
There are two reasons why a national group with which I'm affiliated doesn't hold it's convention at the Convention Center.
The lack of a hotel is one.
The second is a problem shared with the Biloxi Convention Center. The company that holds the food service contract charges too much for the quality of the food served.
Changing the food contract to reduce the costs for coffee specifically and the meal selections just slightly would help once you get the hotel.
We have members who are handicapped and meet as a group at night. There is not a lot of time between meetings and events.
I would point out to those of you who apparently know nothing about conventions that our group , like many require over 8000 square feet for the entire group to meet and several smaller rooms for the board and committees to meet during the event.
If you can find someplace that meets the needed criteria other than a casino ( which many do not like because of the noise and smoke) in Mississippi, do let me know. We will come as Mississippi is a State that garners interest among our members.
His mommy taught him to be nice and he attends events downtown in Fondren (while actually believing Fondren is 'downtown Jackson'.
Fondren First is cool. They have hoola hoops and shaved ice. You can buy a potted tomato or some tomato pot and sit in the shade at Babalu until they run you off. The blue lights are everywhere but don't wander across State to the west.
Pappy, you've never been to a convention, have you?
Often they are held in the home state of the President of the group. That is why I've been to Minnesota and Iowa and other places that I wouldn't pick as a vacation venue.
The King Edward pigeon problem was erased with the remodel. And, water filters have been invented. You've probably have never read your water quality report or get news from other places from your water source or else you'd know Jackson isn't alone in having quality problems from time to time. If you don't get a water report or have never been told to boil water, you should be worried! Thank you for not coming to any events. I'm sure when you appear, fun and joy disappears !
The Convention Center is a bust. Not being negative but being truthful. You have to have stuff to do besides the convention center to have people wanting to come. That's why New Orleans, the coast, Memphis, Birmingham and Atlanta will beat out jackson everytime. Not just a hotel will save it. All of those places have crime, but they also have entertainment besides babalu and that fancy overpriced popsickle shop.
Also, I'm from rankin(niknar) as some of you who probably didn't grow up here and and know the phrase until someone clued you in, and I enjoy going to fondren at times. Live there, hell no, not these days, but I'll visit. Sans a few events here and there and some spotty decent places, Jackson is a shit hole, and I've grown up in and around it my whole life. It is what it is.
Crime is the problem. How many clubs or dinner locations have you been to in the downtown area? What could a convention goer do at night here. Any thing they could walk to? I feel much more comfortable in New Orleans than I do here in Jackson or even Beal street in Memphis. You can walk to Beal St. from your hotel and no one tries to rob you or hurt you. Jackson has a long way to go. Talk gets you no where. It's time for some ACTION in Jackson.
The lack of a hotel and the quality of the food? Are you shitting me? Anybody stupid enough to think one reason for the failure of this project is food quality has got to be sucking Amtrak fumes.
The rotund wimmen attending meetings at this venue will eat anything that doesn't eat them first. As long as they get comp time for attending, a gift bag from the registration table and a napkin full of chicken wings to take back to the room, they don't shiv a git about anything else.
However, neither bad food nor a lack of rooms has anything whatsoever to do with the success or failure of this horrid concept.
7:32 - I've been to many conventions. But I've never gotten a boil water notice, ever. But I'm comforted by your assurance that pigeon shit is on the wane and water is filtered at the venue. Were you going to address crime or were you ok stopping where you did?
And surely you know that your claim that 'Jackson isn't alone' is one of the most common fallacies that appear here with regularity.
The crime you guys refer to may occur in Jackson but not in downtown. Having lived in downtown, invested heavily in real estate and developed several thriving business there since1990, I get a good laugh when I read the comments here. The worst thing that's going to happen to you downtown is being asked for some money by a homeless person who's been thrown out of Whitfield because this is where they dump them when they're done with them. Move the damn rescue mission, soup kitchen and build the f'n lake and see what happens. Water attracts developers who build the tax base which fixes broken shit in the city. For crying out loud it's not rocket science. Now get off your asses.
Little crime downtown because downtown lacks vulnerable night time and weekend targets. Get people downtown and the crime rate will rocket upwards as it is just too easy from downtown to disappear into the criminal friendly environs to the west and south. I get a good laugh everytime a downtown denizen developer-type claims that downtown is going to "build the tax base which fixes broken shit in the city". Because it hasn't, doesn't and won't.
Nothing happens in downtown Jackson after dark. You don't have to believe me, just drive down State street after dark. No one on the street until early morning when the trannies come out to ply their trade. Every once in a while they will have something going on but you have to park in the patrolled parking lot, and pay for the guard.
You have to admit the racist administration of Jackson does jnot want it to prosper. That's why we enjoy leaving Jackson and going somewhere where the Caucasians are welcomed...out of state
9:55: You should learn to comprehend what you read. 4:48 didn't say downtown would fix the tax base. He said the lake would. And he's probably correct as it would bring in tons of private money from out of state developers not needing the percs from the city/state or any of the so- called local consultants resulting in nothing more than lining the pockets of local cackling democrats like yourself. What a dip.
The Pie-in-the-Sky Lake? LMAO. There's no f'ing money to build no lake.
Wow! Another dip at 6:35. Call it a flood control project and get the Feds to pay. What a moron.
No, 6:39....you were not taken along to an Atlanta convention because of your business-partner skills. You were included for eye candy and because you know how to act like a whore in a hotel full of men. Ordinarily there would have been a jewelry store on the lobby-level of the venue and you would have come home with at least an onyx or an opal. You should have worn a yellow skirt and made eye contact.
4:48 suggests 'moving Jackson' in order to improve Jackson. Move the Rescue Mission, the soup kitchens and the flop houses. Send a truck to pick up all the benches and the places low enough to sit on. Then 'those people' would disappear. Holy Shit for a theory!
Soup Kitchens and Rescue Missions locate where the problems are, not vice versa. You don't have miscreants and malcontents rushing into Jackson because there's a soup kitchen there.
I can't believe all the racism! How can you suggest that the Convention Center is bad simply because it loses money? That's racism!
Those of you who dare to oppose the Convention Center hotel? Racists. Don't try to use the mask of fiscal and economic responsibility to hide your bigotry!
The other night they showed all three Prince movies at the Planetarium, hosted by Jackson's own superstar rapper, Kamikaze. Where were all you racists who say there's nothing to do in Jackson?
Just look at all the plans to JSU's new domed stadium that will turn Jackson into a destination. It will lead to so many things! But the racists in niknar are stopping EVERYTHING!
Everything is the fault of racism. Now I'm off to read the JFP.
Hey Drip, the Pearl floods Jackson again before any lake gets built.
The CC is in a horrible location. It should have been built to promote Jackson just on aesthetics alone. However, Harvey and crew stuck it in a spot that is surrounded by nothing. It is on the backside of downtown, hidden from view. Access is horrible. You have to drive all the way down Pearl Street, take a left, then another left, and come up Pascagoula. It should have been built near the Interstate where it could be easily seen. Just think if it had been built on one end of Commerce Street. Then people COULD walk to Hal and Mal's, Martin's, Jaco's, and other establishments. It would be much closer to the Fairgrounds. If it had been built near the Fairgrounds, then there might not have been a need to renovate the Trademart.
But this is Jackson where leaders rarely plan ahead, think big, or have a sense of true style or aesthetics.
I blame a lot of what has happened to downtown on Downtown Jackson Partners and most of all Ben Allen. Ben is a great guy but he did not have the education or experience to guide DJP. I have said all along that DJP needs to go to Chattanooga or Little Rock and hire their administrator and pay whatever it takes to get him or her. We are going down fast and something need to be done---NOW !!!!!!
11:01, it isn't that there isn't anyone with the education or experience to guide DJP or to make any improvements in Jackson. It is that they are more interested in lining their own pocket and do not care what they have to do to make sure that happens. Just too many low lifes and crooks in control of Jackson. Could be all of the honest people have left Jackson and that is all they have to choose from.
TO: 12:00
You have no clue what you are talking about---I was on the DJP board and I saw the total self indulgence that took place in that organization. Not one thing did they accomplish that made a difference in the quality of downtown---under Ben Allen's leadership the downtown area went down like the titanic. It would have made a difference if they had hired the right person, it's not to late.
@4:48 - There are several lakes after a good rain and the potholes fill up.
If you drive to any other large city such as Birmingham, ATL or Dallas the comparison to Jackson is depressing. After a drive back from Dallas this week, once I hit I-20 around Ellis/Valley/Gallatin St. the scenery made me contemplate heading up 55 to St. D. rather than home to check myself in for suicidal ideations!
IT IS A SHITHOLE! And blaming people that don't live in the city limits is just blowing hot air and trying to put lipstick on a pig. But my hat's off to you! You may be sitting in a septic tank but by God it's your turd and you're going to hold on to it as tight as you can while everyone smells you and none of the neighbors want to come visit. But you keep polishing that turd ya crayon eatin bastards!
You're right, Kingfish. The Convention Center IS on the backside of Downtown. I just "drove around", on Google Earth, and toured the location. NO WONDER I never noticed it, even though I go Downtown regularly. The official photos look plenty glitzy. But in reality, it's just a drab building, with NOTHING for the glass walls to reflect.
In cities where such buildings work, there are other buildings, and spectacular scenery, for the glass to REFLECT. Drab, institutional Modern just does not work in a location like the Convention Center's, where there's nothing for the glass to reflect.
And there's not really any landscaping, to set the center apart from the surrounding WASTELAND, (which, if adequate, would create a separate context for the complex). If I were scouting locations, I'd drive around that post-apocalyptic DEAD ZONE once - or half of once - saying "No way in Hell!", while making a U-turn on a deserted street - headed back out to the Interstate.
Come to think of it, I'm sure plenty of organizations' venue scouts have done exactly that.
I voted against that CC and would again. Jackson was on a path that has not going to be turned around by a CC located in the ghetto. I asked at the time
why build something new when we had a Trademark and coliseum right at the highway easy on and off RIGHT THERE. I was told because the Trademark did not have a kitchen. So of course the logical next step was to build a million
plus plus money pit RATHER than renovate and promote the coliseum area.
So now we have a CC with not nearly enough business and a trademark/coliseum
with not nearly enough business. MAKE SENSE TO ME. Guess that is why I am not in the common sense business of making decisions
NO WONDER I never noticed it, even though I go Downtown regularly.
You "go Downtown regularly" and you've never noticed the JCC?
BS that you "go Downtown regularly" or at all.
7:56
Most folks never see it. NOBODY ever drives in front of that bldg (as in passing) on normal travels downtown. The only exception is the west Jackson crowd that commutes to their government jobs daily.
@6:31 - All about control. Cause the State controls the Trademart, not Jackson. Call the CC and tell them you are looking for a place for a gun show and need prices and see what they say.
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