Schumer Joins Call for Javits Expansion Bill
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Senator Schumer has joined some of the city’s top real estate brass calling for the passage of state legislation to expand the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
In an unusual move, a number of powerful real estate leaders were at a press conference yesterday to show their support for a Javits expansion bill, including the chairman of the convention and visitors’ bureau NYC & Company’s chairman, Jonathan Tisch, who is also chief executive of Loews Hotels; developer and chairman of the Association for a Better New York, Bill Rudin; president of the powerful developers’ lobby Real Estate Board of New York, Steven Spinola; and the president of the Building and Construction Trades Council, Ed Malloy.
A Javits expansion bill – the Assembly and Senate each have a version – could pass as early as today or tomorrow. If a deal is not struck by tomorrow when the Legislature meets for the last time this year, the issue will be shelved until the Legislature reconvenes in 2005.
The city bigwigs, most of whom support a Jets stadium on the West Side, came out in support of the Javits legislation yesterday because, though the Javits bill will likely pass without language referring to the creation of a stadium, they think the passage of a Javits expansion bill could energize the effort to build the New York Sports and Convention Center, as the Jets stadium is officially known.
“I think the passage of the Javits Center bill will help create momentum to move the entire West Side project forward,” said the president of the Partnership for New York City, Kathryn Wylde.
“Despite the fact the Jets stadium and the Javits expansion are not officially connected, passing the Javits bill is a positive first step for Mayor Bloomberg’s plan,” Mr. Spinola said.
Mayor Bloomberg had originally indicated his interest in having the Javits expansion and the Jets stadium tied to a single bill, but has since backed down in the face of opposition from state legislators.
“The Mayor gave his approval for the stadium-neutral bill because he realizes it will be good for his overall plan if it passes,” said one attendee who wished to remain unnamed.
Not everyone agreed the two projects were connected.
“Javits and the Jets stadium are on separate tracks, one has nothing to do with the other,” Mr. Schumer told The New York Sun. “I’m agnostic on the stadium,” he added.
State Assembly Member Michael Gianaris agreed the Javits expansion bill, “in and of itself, has nothing to do with the Jets stadium.”
It will reportedly cost $1.4 billion to expand the Javits Center.
The proposed bill for expanding the boundaries of the Javits Convention Center north to 42nd Street would be paid for in part with a $1.50 per room, per night hotel occupancy tax put into affect in April. This would generate $500 million to help finance the construction, according to NYC & Company. The state would restructure existing Javits Center bonds to generate another $350 million, with the remainder of the financing yet to be finalized.
The bill would also increase the city’s representation on the boards of the Javits Center Operating Corporation and the Javits Center Development Corporation.
“The Convention Center can be described in a four-letter word: J-O-B-S,” Mr. Schumer said. “We have waited long enough, the stars are aligned, the objections have evaporated, and we are here urging the legislators to act. Pass the legislation this week.”
An expanded Javits, when combined with additional convention space from the proposed West Side stadium, would bring the convention center into the top five convention spaces nationally from number 16, according to NYC & Company.
It would also stem the loss of $1.5 million daily in direct visitor spending from conventions and trade shows that want to choose New York but are forced to go to larger venues because of the Javits’s inadequate size, according to data from NYC & Company. The insufficient size of the Javits Center has resulted in the loss of 561 meetings over the past three years, leading to 1.96 million corresponding hotel room nights, and over $1.8 billion in delegate spending to the city’s economy, the group has also found.
“Expanding the Javits Center means nearly 10,000 more hospitality jobs for the women and men working in the travel and tourism industry, many of them new Americans, and for the students seeking careers in hospitality,” Mr. Tisch said.
New York City tourism is a $23 billion industry that generates over $3 billion in city, state, and federal taxes, according to NYC & Company. Visitor spending supports $6.28 million in payroll and nearly 300,000 jobs, according to NYC & Company.