City leaders hold hope for center.

Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - The time will come when a large-scale conference center is built somewhere in Springfield between Gateway and Glenwood - of that much, Dan Egan says he is sure.

"The idea is very much alive," said Egan, executive director of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. "I know we're going to build something. It's just a matter of when."

That's been the state of affairs for some time. It's been about 10 years since the notion of using public funds to help bring a conference center to Springfield was first discussed.

While it appears at this point that no specific development is in the works, Egan remains optimistic because of the success of similar projects elsewhere that have taken decades to complete.

Take what's happened in Salem. Plans to build a conference center/hotel complex in that city's downtown were first put on the drawing board in 1975. Nearly 30 years passed before Salem officials found a hotel company to partner with on the project.

In early 2005, a new downtown Salem facility with nearly 30,000 square feet of city-owned meeting space finally opened. More than 400 events have since been held at the conference center, and the city says it already is benefitting.

"In the first year, it exceeded our expectations ... and generated an operational profit," said Dan Riordan, revitalization supervisor for the city of Salem. "This kind of project takes a lot of time, but when everything comes together, it comes together quickly."

Local tourism officials say Springfield could expect similar results if it added significant conference space.

"The demand is there," said Kari Westlund, president of the Convention and Visitors Association of Lane County. "It would definitely be a money-making proposition."

CVALCO's board of directors last month voted to continue to hold in reserve $15,000 for a city-led study of a public/private conference center and hotel development in Springfield.

"We just want to make sure they keep this in mind as they look at the future of their community," Westlund said.

Chamber of Commerce officials are spearheading the effort to bring a conference center to Springfield, in part because city government has more pressing issues to tend to, Mayor Sid Leiken said.

"Our city council remains interested, but it isn't a top priority right now," Leiken said. "Eventually, it's something we hope to work with an outside interest on."

Development of a conference center is on the council's list of targeted projects for the future.

The Gateway district, with its concentration of hotel and motel rooms, is the most logical place to build a full-service meeting facility, Westlund said.

Egan agrees, although other sites in and around Springfield also have been considered.

"Gateway makes a whole bunch of sense, but we've looked at Glenwood, too," he said. "We just need to keep pushing this, and wait for a door to open."

In the meantime, about 9,000 square feet of new meeting space soon will be added to the Gateway area with the construction of a Holiday Inn and an Embassy Suites Hotel. Those developments will help compensate for the loss of about 12,000 square feet of conference space when owners of the Clarion Hotel in Gateway tore the facility down in 2004 and built the Best Buy electronics store.

The metro area's main full-service conference site is the Hilton Eugene, with about 30,000 square feet of meeting space.

According to a recent CVALCO report, the lack of "overflow" hotel rooms near the downtown facility is an obstacle that deters some event organizers from booking events there.