It’s been a weird 15 months at the Javits Center. How could it not be?
Conventions stopped convening. Trade shows stopped trading. Once COVID exploded, all public gatherings were suddenly against the law. But here’s the even weirder thing: At the “busiest convention center in the United States,” life kinda went on. It was just that, instead of badge-wearing B-to-B’ers and crazy-costumed Comic-Conners, the six-block glass-and-steel box on Manhattan’s West Side was populated with COVID patients and those who hoped desperately not to become one.
The Javits Center pivoted, like most New Yorkers did, becoming a pop-up COVID field hospital and then, starting this March, a 24-hour-a-day vaccination center, delivering 643,000 shots since then, more than any other single location on earth.
“I said to the staff, ‘Regard this as just another event,’” said Alan Steel, whose official title is president and CEO of the New York Convention Center Operating Corporation, which makes him the uber boss at Javits, unless you count his de facto boss, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has a lot of other things to worry about.
Said Steel: “We move things in. We set things up. We take things down. The people go away, and then we do it all over again. It’s not that unusual for us. Logistics is what we do for a living.”
Alan Steel, president and CEO of the New York Convention Center Operating Corporation
Javits CenterWell, now it’s time to pivot again.
Javits isn’t the first major American convention center to bring exhibitors back post-COVID. Venues in Florida, Las Vegas and elsewhere are already hosting events again, though most of those are on the smaller side and most are aimed at consumers, not travel-leery corporate types. The first post-COVID Javits show will be NY NOW, the usually (except for last year) annual wholesale market for retail buyers. It’s set for Aug. 8-11 in a dual event with the fine-jewelry show JA New York. The New York International Auto Show pulls in after that, Aug. 20-29. Anthony Scaramucci’s investor-focused SALT conference is Sept. 13-15, a Javits steal from Las Vegas.
“We’re still working with those organizations to finalize their floor plans and also to finalize their policies,” Steel said. “They’d like to have as few limitations as possible, and we get that. But we’re all keeping a close eye on where the new variants are at that point.” So some things remain in COVID-era flux.
“You’ll probably see somewhat smaller events in the beginning because people have not had time to put everything together the way they normally would,” Steel said. “But we’re now able to go to full occupancy of the building, pre-pandemic levels.” No more 30%t capacity max, an earlier plan. “We’re making everything as normal as possible as quickly as possible. We do have a requirement that people should socially distance as far as possible.” So expect wider aisles, fewer booth enclosures, oceans of hand-sanitizer, full-blast HEPA air filters and a strong suggestion that people who aren’t vaccinated really should wear face masks, though no mandatory tests at the check-in booths.
At the Javits Center, there’s new room to stretch out. A $1.5 billion expansion was completed in May, adding 1.2 million square feet of event space, along with a state- of-the-art broadcasting studio for live streaming. The upgrades include a glass-enclosed entrance on 11th Avenue, a rooftop pavilion and terrace and a vastly expanded truck marshaling facility that is supposed to streamline comings and goings and unchoke traffic on the West Side Highway and nearby streets. The new bells and whistles include 3,000 solar panels, a greenhouse and a 1-acre vegetable farm on the roof.
A $1.5 billion expansion was completed in May, adding 1.2 million square feet of event space.
Javits CenterHervé Sedky, president and CEO of Emerald, the New York-based exhibition company behind NY NOW and JA, said that despite the expected smaller turnout, his firm is investing heavily in the shows, including bringing on modern-aesthetic creative designer Brad Ford. “Yes, this will be a smaller show and the economics are tougher,” Sedky said. “But we’re happy to be back. We play a crucial role in reopening the economy. We have to make this work. Now’s the time to invest in these customers. If we do a good job now, we’ll have these relationships for life.”
That’s what Steel is hoping to hear, as he roars toward August with his logistical team and his fingers crossed.
“My view all along has been that we should open at a time when we have as few restrictions as possible,” he said. “What I did not want to see baked into our process was having to have your temperature taken, having to show a vaccine passport — all of those things that would drive down interest from a business perspective. There were some people who wanted us to open at the end of June or the beginning of July. I said, ‘Let’s wait a few weeks until we can be a little more certain about what the conditions will be. We don’t want to hold events that people won’t be willing to attend. That makes no sense.”
Ellis Henican is an author based in New York City and a former newspaper columnist.
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