The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) announces that the $600 million Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) renovation project is mostly complete. When complete, the most popular trade show destination in North America will be a modern space that better suits the needs of showgoers and exhibitors.
Miller & Ham Project Development is the owner’s representative for the project. Klai-Juba-Wald Architects provided architectural and design services. A joint venture of AECOM Hunt and PENTA Building Group (Hunt-PENTA) is the construction manager for the project. Hunt-PENTA subcontracted all components of the work (including every CSI division of work from Division 02 - Existing Conditions to Division 33 - Utilities).
“Our company joined the project during the initial design development phase to provide preconstruction services which included cost and constructability reviews,” said Cliff Toliver, Project Executive at Hunt-PENTA. “We provided real-time feedback on cost and constructability of the design evolution, which allowed the design team to continue to develop and finalize the design in alignment with the owners vision, budget, and schedule.”
Conventions are a major source of economic growth for Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2023, the sector contributed more than $15 billion to the local economy and directly supported more than 67,000 jobs, totaling $3.7 billion in wages.
This is about as much revenue as the state of Nevada generated from gambling ($15.6 billion) in 2024.
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The Las Vegas Convention Center spans 4.6 million square feet and has approximately 2.5 million square feet of meeting space.
LVCVA is funding this $600 million project by using transfers from LVCVA’s general fund, bonds, and the proceeds from the sale of the 10-acre Riviera parcel.
The entire renovation project has been broken down into multiple phases:
- Sequence A.2: Renovate the east end of South Hall, relocate administrative offices, and build a new East Lobby
- Sequence B: A 100,000-square-foot addition of a new Main Lobby, new North Hall, and Central Hall connectors to provide interior passage to all halls, as well as an upgraded Central Concourse
- Sequence C: Upgrades to lighting, renovated meeting room interiors, upgrades to exhibit halls, and new restrooms
- Sequence D: Improvements to exterior landscaping, Silver Lot functionality, and other site improvements
- The grand lobby will have plenty of natural light and views of the North and Central halls.
- A climate-controlled interior concourse will be between the North Hall and South Hall.
- The South Hall will feature an outdoor plaza, indoor lobby, a new pre-function space, and a second-floor boardroom.
- Technology upgrades include digital displays, digital pylon signs, and interactive information.
- The signature West Hall exterior ribbon roof will continue to the other halls.
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The LVCC renovation project is expected to be completed on time at the end of 2025. Once completed, the center will feature an expansive grand lobby, new spaces, digital signage, improved technology features, and an overall enhanced guest experience. More details of the renovation are as follows:
Renovation of the West Hall was completed in 2021. Due to the pandemic, LVCVA postponed the renovation of the remaining structure — the legacy campus. Then, in August 2022, LVCVA moved forward with plans for its renovation.
According to LVCVA, in January 2024, construction work was completed on a fully refurbished east entrance, a new administrative office complex, and a boardroom, all of which are in the South Hall. Construction in 2024 focused on the North Hall and included expanding it between the North and West halls, renovating exhibition space and meeting rooms, and improving technology features.
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Construction of a new grand lobby between North and Central halls will take place through 2025, along with the addition of a climate-controlled concourse between North and South halls, renovated exhibition space in Central Hall, and enhancements to outdoor exhibit space in the Silver Lot.
“We are currently working on the addition of the grand lobby, the Central Hall indoor connector, and the Central Hall renovations,” Toliver said. “The grand lobby and Central Hall renovations contain foundation work, structural steel, architectural finishes, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and technology improvements to be completed.”
LVCVA divided the project work for this 60-year-old building into three sequences. (See “Renovating an Old Building”)
The first sequence included expanding the public entry and pre-function spaces of the south exhibit hall by adding a new outdoor public plaza, a new public entry, converting a portion of the existing exhibit hall into new public pre-function space areas, replacing the vertical transportation and restrooms with new equipment and finishes, and major electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and technology upgrades. In addition to the public space upgrades, this sequence also included the buildout of administrative offices and exterior façade renovations by replacing metal panels with curtainwall and storefront.
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The second sequence includes the addition of a new grand lobby, significant transformations of an existing concourse, and the creation of indoor connector concourses to allow guests to circulate between the exhibit halls without going outside.
The third sequence includes the renovation of existing exhibit halls, meeting rooms, and restrooms by replacing architectural finishes and performing major technology, lighting, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing improvements.
The major structural building materials included in this project are concrete foundation work and structural steel. The curtainwall and metal panel façade serve as the outward-facing walls. The interior requires new interior finishes, vertical transportation equipment, energy efficient lighting, and plumbing, as well as mechanical, electrical, and technology systems.
The LVCC hosts numerous large trade shows. In 2023, more than 6 million patrons attended events at the LVCC.
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To minimize the risk caused by construction activities occurring near attendees, LVCVA designed a construction schedule to accommodate upcoming trade shows. In some cases, some shows moved to different halls. Construction did not interrupt a single show schedule. Some shows even had the opportunity to be the first to exhibit in a newly renovated hall.
“One of the greatest challenges of this project is performing the work while the convention center remains open for events,” Toliver said. “The convention center holds weekly conventions with up to 180,000 attendees, moving in and around the construction renovation areas. We overcame this challenge by having detailed coordination meetings with the owner’s sales team. We started conversing with them during the planning stage of the project and continued through to construction.”
All other sequences of this project did not have this challenge nearly to this extent. For the most part, construction crews could just close off an individual hall and work mostly isolated from the showgoers.
“We installed temporary walls, engineered protected tunnels through the active parts of the construction areas, installed temporary signage, and adjusted our work sequencing and schedule based on the duration, location, and size of the events,” Toliver said.
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Another challenge was working through the inherent issues of renovating a 60-year-old building. Hunt-PENTA overcame this challenge by keeping an open line of communication with the owner, design team, and any authorities who have jurisdiction to review and resolve issues pertaining to the work.
Another major challenge for the Hunt-PENTA joint venture was the age of the Las Vegas Convention Center, which is more than 60 years old.
Building information is frequently not available for older buildings. The original blueprints are often outdated or missing, and crucial information is often absent or inaccurate.
As a result of the missing information or misinformation, designers have some blind spots when it comes to creating the starting point of the project. When building site information is absent — without current field data — assumptions must be made.
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When working with old structures, contractors discover a lot of variances between preconstruction site drawings and what they discover in the field. This can result in work stoppages, rework, extra communication, blueprint changes, and delays.
The Hunt-PENTA joint venture overcame the challenges of working on the LVCC by staying in constant communication with the owner, design team, and other authorities.
Older buildings also have usually experienced more than one renovation, which can further complicate the project. This is the case with the LVCC, which has experienced more than a dozen renovations.
The LVCC, which was built in 1959 on land that once occupied a failed horse and automobile racing facility, began as a 6,300-capacity, silver-domed rotunda with an adjoining 90,000-square-foot exhibition hall.
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The first major renovation, which included an expansion, occurred in the early ‘70s. In the early 2000s, construction of the South Hall was complete. Construction of Las Vegas Convention Center Loop people mover by The Boring Company began in late 2019.
The current major renovation project is expected to be complete at the end of 2025.
Trade shows at the Las Vegas Convention Center attract millions of visitors each year. It is where many people go to see (and companies go to show) some of the latest products, technologies, and ideas in the world. The facility is located near more than 150,000 hotel rooms and dozens of Las Vegas attractions. The LVCC has been the leading destination for trade shows for the past three decades.
