Menino Convention Center?

[KentXie]

City may forgo M-O-N-E-Y for M-E-N-I-N-O
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Friday, July 21, 2006 - Updated: 04:56 PM EST

You?ve already heard about plans for ?Tommy?s tower.?

But even that proposed 1,000-foot skyscraper may not be enough to immortalize Boston?s long-serving mayor.

So some of Menino?s confidantes have an even more fitting tribute in mind: The Thomas M. Menino Convention Center.

Or just The Menino for short, as one not entirely sympathetic political observer quipped.

?Politicians have what you call edifice complexes,? said the insider. ?It?s apparent the plan down the line is to name it after Menino, as opposed to doing the right thing, which is to sell the naming rights.?

The idea bubbled to the surface with a ?friendly? suggestion by a Menino administration insider - reportedly public relations consultant Connie Kastelnik, wife of Menino confidante Ed Jesser - after a gathering of convention center officials.

Kastelnik couldn?t ?recall? if she made the suggestion - but didn?t seem to have a problem with it.

It is just one of a growing number of signals that the naming rights for the city?s shiny new $800 million convention hall may be reserved for Menino.

And it?s not likely the mayor will have to wait until another lifetime to enjoy this ultimate ego boost.

He may just have to wait until the waning days of his final term, when a midnight bill can be quietly slipped through on Beacon Hill.

?It?s one of those things where you would wake up the next morning and it would be done,? speculated one political observer.

Possibly the most telling signs are the actions - or, more to the point, the inaction - of the government authority that oversees the $800 million meeting hall on South Boston?s waterfront.

When the hall opened two years ago with a meager calendar of bookings, the authority?s chief executive said it just wasn?t time to explore naming rights.

After all, with few people in the hall, how valuable could the name be?

Now, with conventioneers jamming the hall and available dates becoming an endangered species, the line has changed again.

There just isn?t all that much of a market after all for naming rights for major convention centers, contends James Rooney, Menino?s former chief of staff and now chief executive of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.

He claims not to have heard any discussion on the issue.

Hmmm . . .

Still, some would like to see the convention center folks do a little more research before dispensing with the sale of naming rights.

After all, the naming rights for Springfield?s meeting hall fetched $5 million. Of course, that includes a minor league hockey arena, but Springfield?s no Boston.

Then, there is that little matter of the state subsidy.

At last count, it was more than $20 million a year.

That?s how much it cost to run the sterile-sounding Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the Back Bay?s older Hynes meeting hall. (Named, by the way, after another Boston mayor, John Hynes).

Of course, Boston?s seemingly inexhaustible mayor may have a sweat-equity claim of sorts when it comes to naming the new meeting hall.

The mayor lobbied tirelessly to get the hall built, a years-long and at times queasy endeavor with budget overrun scares and delays that had some fearing another Big Dig.

Then Menino became its most tireless salesman, insisting it would be successful even as many quietly snickered and wrote it off as a white elephant.

He?s even appeared in ads touting the new center.

So why not put his name on it?

Anything beats the clunky BCEC.

Still, it?s just too bad Menino won?t be throwing in a few million dollars as a deal sweetener.

But heck, you can?t have everything.

 

[KentXie]

Menino: What?s in name?
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Saturday, July 22, 2006

Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday insisted he has no plans to slap his name on the city?s new $800 million convention center.

Reacting to a Herald column suggesting the mayor?s confidantes might be interested in such a deal, Menino, through a spokeswoman, said he suggested four years ago that the center?s naming rights be sold.

The mayor is still interested in seeing such a sale, with the money raised to be dedicated to the ?cultural community of Boston,? said his spokeswoman, Rebecca Frisch.

Still, the lack of action by the government authority that oversees the new Boston Convention & Exhibition Center has raised suspicions among some political observers who think the hall?s name is being reserved for Menino.

A number of major convention centers around the country are named for former mayors and political leaders.

Asked why the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority has taken no action on the mayor?s now four-year-old suggestion, Frisch noted that the authority is a state, not a city, entity.

?All we can do is make suggestions,? she said.

James Rooney, chief executive of the convention authority and Menino?s former chief of staff, yesterday also recalled talking to the mayor years ago about a sale of the naming rights.

Still, there are no plans at this point to explore this option, Rooney said.

 

[KentXie]

Meeting of the minds: Convention center wins $24M settlement
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Saturday, July 22, 2006

The architectural team that designed Boston?s highly acclaimed $800 million convention hall has agreed to shell out $24 million, settling allegations that some of its work was less than world class.

The designers, who included renowned architect Rafael Vinoly, agreed to the multimillion-dollar deal after a long legal battle with the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.

The soaring glass and steel structure - which opened for business two years ago - has won kudos from architectural critics.

But the convention center authority contends it spent roughly $14 million to repair a series of mistakes made by the design team, from a sound system no one could understand to a leaky roof. Another $3 million was spent on legal bills in the effort to recoup damages.

Most of the errors were discovered before the center opened, and have long since been corrected, said James Rooney, chief executive of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.

Rooney, whose nearly 30-year career has included high-level posts at the MBTA, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the Big Dig, said he could not recall any settlements of this size.

?I have been in the business for close to 30 years, and I haven?t seen anything like this,? Rooney said.

On the hook to come up with the big payment is a design team that - while it featured Vinoly?s New York-based firm - was led by Kansas City powerhouse HNTB, which has designed stadiums around the country.

The out-of-court agreement came with the case already having gone to trial and a jury in the middle of deliberations.

The convention center authority had sought as much as $34 million to $38 million in damages.

Executives at HNTB, Rafael Vinoly Architects and R.G. Vanderweil Engineers released a joint statement.

?We are proud of the architectural achievement of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, which is now one of the top 10 convention facilities in the nation, and hope it will serve the people of Boston for many years to come.?

 

[Ron Newman]

Shouldn't be named after someone still living.

 

[bosma]

I agree, at least wait until he is out of office.

As far as selling the naming rights: How would you like to be the person asking the National Dentist Association to bring there convention to the "Hewlett Packard Convention Center"

 

[lexicon506]

I personally have no problem with Menino's name on the BCEC. Lots of convention centers across the country are named after mayors (off the top of my head, Moscone in SF). Although I do agree that we wait until he's out of office.....also, I think we can say that The Menino Center is ALOT catchier than a name like Merchantsauto.com Center.

 

[IMAngry]

Un. be. lieve. able.

City gets soaked

Leaks splash visitors inside exhibit center

By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | February 24, 2007

Water seeping through the roof of the $800 million Boston Convention & Exhibition Center dripped on some visitors to the New England Boat Show this week, six months after state convention officials said that the public would never notice leaking and other structural problems in the massive building.

"The people looked up and said, 'What is this?' " recounted Sue Killborn, a boating instructor whose booth, "Boatwise," is next to three barrels collecting water .

State Senator Michael Morrissey, a boating enthusiast who visited the show on Sunday, said he was startled when water splashed on his head. "Three quarters of a billion dollars and the roof leaks? What's wrong with that picture?" Morrissey , a Quincy Democrat, said.

While officials work on a permanent solution, about 20 "diapers" or large tarps, many of them water-stained, have been suspended from the ceiling of the 516,000-square-foot building -- the most expensive in state history. Workers have jerry-rigged a drainage system that collects the water in the tarps and then channels it down plastic tubing and into barrels.

Even before the South Boston convention center opened in June 2004, numerous design flaws emerged, including a leaky roof, defective heat and air conditioning pipes, and a faulty public address system. Last July, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority won a $24 million settlement from the building's architects. At the time, authority officials said the problems would be fixed within two years and would not be noticeable to the public.

James E. Rooney, executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, said the leaks in the building are not serious and should not detract from a building that has made Boston one of the top 10 convention cities in the country.

"The water penetration is minor in nature," said Rooney. "The worst times are when there is snow or ice melting."

He said water accumulates around 24 air-handling machines on the roof and seeps in. Workers have temporarily sealed many problem areas, but architectural engineers are in the process of designing "a permanent fix," which could take "a year or two," he said.

Rooney said they were dealing with the leaks "in as least obtrusive a way as possible," adding that the $24 million settlement will be more than enough to cover the cost of permanent repairs.

But some visitors to the boat show did notice the barrels -- and the water.

"I walked over to look at a boat and got hit with water," Morrissey said. "I saw a barrel collecting water. I thought it was a joke."

The center has attracted several major conventions since it opened in June 2004, including the 12,000-person Microsoft Corp. technology convention last summer.

The boat show, which began last Saturday and ends today , is the first "gate show" in the building since the Legislature last summer gave the convention center the go-ahead to schedule events that charge admission.

Several exhibitors, even those with booths beneath the hanging tarps, said they hadn't noticed water in the building, which they said was far superior to the Bayside Exposition Center in Dorchester, where the boat show had been held for years.

"I love it," said Tom Peelen of East Coast Marine, a manufacturer's representative for several companies that make equipment for sailboats . "It's a top-notch facility. They threw a great exhibitor party. And the workers are so friendly -- like you're not even in Boston."

Because of the building's high ceilings, sailboats can be displayed with their masts and rigs up.

"The tall ceilings are the answer," Peelen said.

The show has featured hundreds of power boats and a few massive sailboats, including a 49-foot, $345,000 Hunter, towering over the other boats.

Marvin Reynolds of SetSail Yachts, a yacht brokerage firm, was also stationed beneath multiple diapers. "I haven't seen any leaks," he said. "We think this place is marvelous."

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said that despite the design flaws and the leaks, the building has proved to be a boon to residents of Boston and Massachusetts.

"These problems will arise, but I think the management of the convention center has done a good job at holding the developers' and designers' feet to the fire on the project and have sought damages," said Menino.

Rooney formerly served as Menino's chief of staff.

"There are a few critics out there, but this convention center is one of the best things we've done for tourism in the state in many, many years."

When the state approved the center in 1997, the enabling legislation specifically barred gate shows like the boat show from being held there because lawmakers did not want a state facility to draw business away from the privately operated Bayside and the World Trade Center.

But last year, Governor Mitt Romney signed legislation ending the ban on gate shows, allowing them at the convention center if they are too big to fit at Bayside.

The gate shows at the convention center must pay a $1-a-ticket tax to the new South Boston Community Development Corporation, a neighborhood charity.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...splash_visitors_inside_exhibit_center/?page=2

 

[briv]

Vinoly's Pittsburgh convention center was plagued by similar problems, and eventually the building suffered a partial collapse. I believe that city is now embroiled in litigation charging Vinoly with "deficient and defective design" -- the Scarlet Letter for an architect.

Hopefully Boston doesnt need to follow suit.

 

[castevens]

He should have groundbreaking ceremonies named after him, as he never misses one.

 

[JoeSixpack]

Menino...Edifice Complex. That was pretty funny. It's almost too perfect.

I hadn't heard of the Convention Center Naming issue previously, but it doesn't surprise me that he would have a back up plan if the Tower doesn't come to fruition. He strikes me as more Machiavellian by the week. He really seems to have lost touch.

The selling of naming rights caught my eye also. It's just my personal opinion, but I am against selling naming rights of Public Property. Hell, I don't like the billboard busses.