Officials from the Blues and the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission met last week with city and county leaders "about the future of the Scottrade Center and the city’s convention center complex, discussing renovations that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars," according to Pistor & Hunn of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. A "firm price tag isn’t known." The meeting included "wish lists for the two large-scale venues, but no official proposals." City officials said that renovating Scottrade Center is "expected to top" $100M. A separate remodel of the convention center "would probably cost well over" $120M. The officials added that the attached Edward Jones Dome "will need upgrades, too." Convention Center President Kitty Radcliffe said, "There’s been so much noise for the last several years about the football team lease, and the dome, and then the new stadium. It would not have been the right time -- any time in the last several years -- to get anybody’s attention. We’re now getting down to it.” She added that the convention center had "commissioned a study, due in the next few weeks, on improvements aimed at keeping the facility attractive to convention planners." Radcliffe said that the Edward Jones Dome "will need upgrades to ensure it is 'ideally suited' for conventions, now that football is gone." Meanwhile, Blues President & CEO of Business Operations Chris Zimmerman said of the Scottrade Center, "We have a 21-year-old building that has had some investment over that time period, but we also know it’s at a point where it’s starting to fall behind with other cities who we compete with. We don’t have a plan yet. What we’re doing is developing plans so the building is effective and competitive for the next 30 years” (STLTODAY.com, 1/26).
