Updated: $175M convention center recommended for downtown Springfield

Last edited 12:11 p.m., July 9, 2025 [Editor's note: More information from the report has been added to this story. The figure in the headline has been corrected.]

Springfield needs a downtown event center suitable for both conventions and community uses. 

That’s the recommendation of Chicago-based Hunden Strategic Partners Inc., which describes itself as the leading global adviser in place strategy, in its fourth study of Springfield’s need and capacity for a convention center. 

The study was presented to Springfield City Council in a luncheon meeting yesterday by Visit Springfield, Missouri, President and CEO Mark Hecquet. 

Asked to conduct a market and feasibility study for the development of a convention center, the consultants recommended a $175 million event center. It’s a project described by Hecquet as more than a convention center, but a multiuse venue for visitors and residents alike. Hecquet called it a community icon. 

“It will be something that will instill pride in our community and something that will be very recognizable for the city of Springfield,” he said. 

The study declared a downtown location to be essential to the project; however, it did not suggest a specific site. Mayor Jeff Schrag noted the city owns multiple properties in the downtown area. 

“The report points to downtown, and the city has a lot of property downtown and we have options on property downtown, so I think that’s probably the first place to look,” Schrag said. “We have lots of availability downtown.” 

He said at this point, especially when considering property negotiations, it is important to keep multiple site ideas on the table. 

In a best-case scenario, the facility would be built in two years, Hecquet said. Schrag said he envisions a new facility in place by 2028.

The report estimates the project would generate an average of $26 million in net new spending annually. 

The report also suggests that over 30 years, the project would generate $1.3 billion in spending. That means the city loses $125,114 per day by inactivity, Hecquet said. 

Tax revenue would also be realized from the facility, according to the report, which states the center is expected to generate $68.7 million in tax revenue over 30 years. That includes $20.9 million in city sales tax, $24.4 million in hotel room tax and $23.5 million in property tax. 

The state of Missouri allocated $30 million toward the project in its current fiscal 2026 budget, but those funds have been designated as restricted by Gov. Mike Kehoe

Kehoe vetoed 208 items in the operating budget and restricted spending on 32 more. Of the latter, he stated after signing the bill, “These restrictions are not an indication of project worthiness – we understand their value, and that’s why we chose not to veto them."

Six headlines

Hecquet said there are six project headlines – three bad and three good.

Topping the list of the bad was the fact that the Springfield market is stagnant. The report found hotel occupancy levels have not recovered to prepandemic 2019 levels, and without a sufficient convention package, that trend could continue. The report adds that Springfield’s average daily hotel occupancy rates are not competitive with markets such as Branson and with the national average. That highlights “a possibly inadequate existing product,” the report states, adding that few new hotels have been added to the market in recent years.“As someone who gets to promote the city around the world, it saddened my heart a little bit to get a research study and the first thing it says is that Springfield is stagnating,” Hecquet said.

A second bad headline: The Springfield Expo Center, with less exhibition and meeting space than its competitors, is underperforming .

“In fact, alarmingly,” he said. “The number of visitors to the Expo Center is on a very downward trajectory, which is very disappointing to see.”

The third dinger: Throughout the multistate region, municipalities have invested heavily into the convention sector by expanding, adding or modernizing facilities, and this pushes Springfield’s facilities further behind, Hecquet said.

Among the good headlines, Hecquet said, is opportunity for the city.

“One thing that is very clear out of this study is that Springfield has an unprecedented opportunity to lead,” he said.

Local advantages include location, accessibility, amenities and connectivity, he said.

Another good headline, according to Hecquet, is the opportunity to create a multiuse center that is more than just a convention center but a community icon to instill pride and be very recognizable for the city.

Lastly, Hecquet said, the center will create an economic ripple.

“It is a ripple,” he said. “The economic ripple of a project like this will stretch not only through all of Springfield but beyond.”

Springfield is lagging

Hecquet said the proposed project is not about Springfield being average.

“This is about very simply positioning Springfield as a leader in a multistate region,” he said.

The report compares the Springfield Expo Center to five convention centers within a 215-mile radius. Those facilities are in Branson and St. Charles, Missouri; Little Rock, Arkansas; Overland Park, Kansas; and Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, Hecquet said it is important to note that those facilities are not the proposed center’s actual competition – those are instead facilities in the states surrounding Missouri.

Among the five-city competitive group used for comparative purposes in the Hunden report, however, Springfield does not fare well.

“The data clearly show we are dead last in our competitive set – dead last,” Hecquet said. 

The Springfield Expo Center, owned by the city and operated by Atrium Hospitality LP, is not sufficient to meet the city’s needs, according to the report, which notes it is roughly 60,000 square feet smaller than the average total function space of the comparison group.

According to the report, the Expo Center’s function space measures 49,375 square feet.

The Expo Center also lacks any ballroom space. Hecquet said the largest Springfield facility can accommodate only about 1,000 people. Comparison venues’ ballrooms range 17,000-43,000 square feet, the report states.

The proposed facility would have 125,000 square feet of total function space, including 18,000 square feet of ballroom space with its largest ballroom at 30,000 square feet – larger than any of the listed competitors.

The proposal also calls for 12 rooms and 16,000 square feet of meeting space. Competitor venues average 12 rooms and 13,197 square feet of meeting space.

The Expo Center offers only 4,375 square feet of meeting space and seven rooms, the report states – 8,822 square feet below average.

Connected hotel

The Hunden report states that a 400-room, full-service, connected hotel would be needed. It puts the cost of a center-connected hotel at $209 million.

While the center is envisioned as a publicly funded project, to be managed, ideally, by a third party, the report anticipates a public-private partnership to fund the hotel. 

The connected hotel is essential, according to Hecquet.

Schrag said it is important that the hotel be a recognized brand that would enforce the standards of its brand.

The report also stipulates that there must be an additional 600 hotel rooms within a walkable distance of the proposed facility.

Hecquet said there are land opportunities for new hotels, and it is likely the city would need another hotel to reach that goal.

Economic impact

By year four, the center would annually bring in an estimated 164 events with 251 event days and nearly 180,000 attendees, the report states. 

“We don’t have this right now,” Hecquet said. “We don’t have a venue today that can do any of this, so we have to look at this as new.” 

The project would not steal business from within the Springfield community, he said; rather, it would be a demand generator. Data shows average daily rate and occupancy will go up as a result. 

Amanda Ohlensehlen, the city’s director of Workforce and Economic Vitality, said the proposed facility offers an unprecedented opportunity for the city.

“In thinking about bringing in 180,000 new visitors to Springfield and over 80,000 room nights, that brings visitors in a scope and a scale that the city of Springfield hasn’t been able to experience to date,” she said.

The center city area represents opportunity for businesses in its proximity, she said, but she noted there are also opportunities for businesses throughout the area.

“As you draw in potential events that bring thousands of visitors, they’re going to be staying and frequenting visitors throughout our metropolitan area,” she said.

The study cost $88,000 and was commissioned by Visit Springfield. The city, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Springfield Association each contributed $8,000 toward the total.