Architect: Convention center an opportunity to innovate

Tim Rosenbury: Voters in November had too many unanswered questions.

“There’s a sweet spot here for places like Springfield to do something that’s different.”

That was the outlook of Adam Paulitsch, principal for global convention center design practice for Kansas City-based architectural firm Populous Inc.

Paulitsch was explaining some of the philosophical underpinnings of the approach his company would take in designing a proposed downtown Springfield convention and events center. He spoke on Jan. 28 in the first of two community visioning workshops.

Paulitsch began his public presentation by noting that Populous works all over the world.

“We never come to a city and tell you what’s best for your city,” he said. “We ask questions.”

He added that Populous began working with city officials and Springfield firm Sapp Design Associates Architects Inc. about six months before the late-January announcement of the city’s selection of Populous for design services.

Paulitsch said convention centers are part of a tricky ecosystem that includes everything from restaurants to hotels, airports and Ubers or cabs.

In a Jan. 23 media preview event, Paulitsch compared innovation in the convention center space to turning around a cruise ship, with a number of entities involved and a reluctance among people to take risks.

“Cities like Springfield are ripe; they are at the cutting edge of being able to do something different,” he said. “You guys are building a new facility. You have no baggage of an existing facility.”

Populous has designed a large number of internationally recognized buildings. Among these are the $2.3 billion Las Vegas Sphere, a 20,000-person music and entertainment arena with an outer envelope consisting of an LED screen, as well as high-profile builds like Wembley Stadium in the United Kingdom and the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport.

Additionally, in late January, Populous was announced to be one of two finalists, with Manica, to design a new $2.2 billion Kansas City Chiefs football stadium in Johnson County, Kansas, ahead of the team’s move there for the 2031 football season, according to media reports.

Paulitsch and colleagues plan to continue amassing public feedback through the predesign period. Up next is a second visioning workshop that is set for Feb. 9-10, with a concept validation session to be held Feb. 23-24.

The predesign process is slated to conclude March 6, when an initial rendering is anticipated in advance of the April 7 election. That is when Springfield voters will decide whether to fund a convention and events center with an additional 3% tax on hotel, motel and short-term rental accommodations.

Next steps
The convention and events center was recommended by city consultants Hunden Strategic Partners Inc. in the Chicago-based firm’s fourth study since 2011 of Springfield’s capacity for a convention center, according to past SBJ reporting. That report specified that the center should be downtown with an upscale, chain-branded hotel attached. A hotel would be a private undertaking and not a city-funded one, according to past SBJ reporting.

During the media preview, Paulitsch characterized the Hunden report as a jumping-off point for the project and not the last word on the subject.

“That report is just the first set of information that we need to start to interpret from a design, economic, cost standpoint, and just make sure that we’re checking all the boxes,” he said. “We’re the ones at the table that are going to deliver this. We’re the ones that are going to take all the risks on your behalf to hit your budget, to hit your goals.”

Populous will also provide an image of what the center could look like – a detail that voters told City Manager David Cameron in feedback meetings about the failed tax that they want to see. The schedule calls for the city to receive its convention center imagery a month before election day.

In introducing the public visioning workshop, Tim Rosenbury, the city’s director of quality of place initiatives, said people voted against the tax when it was proposed in November 2025 because they didn’t know what they were voting for.

“There wasn’t a proposal,” Rosenbury said. “There was an idea, maybe, but they didn’t know what it would look like. They didn’t know where it would be. They didn’t know exactly how much it would cost and what it meant to them.”

Rosenbury said the visioning session would begin to answer those questions, but it would not discuss how the center would be managed or financed or what kind of development it might spin off.

“Tonight, we’re kind of talking about the big picture of convention centers,” he said.

Selection and contract
Rosenbury said the city received 10 statements of qualifications from architects wishing to work on the center. On Jan. 23, SBJ submitted a public records request seeking the names of the firms, but that was not available by press time.

“Five of those firms were global leaders – and I am not exaggerating – global leaders in the design of convention centers,” he said during the visioning session. “So we had a choice.”

Four firms were interviewed, and Populous was chosen from among them, Rosenbury said.

A contract obtained by SBJ from the city for Populous’ predesign work shows a not-to-exceed amount of $376,500 for the scheduled workshops and sessions with delivery of a concept design and marketing visuals due by March 6.

The predesign work is being funded through reserves from the city’s existing hotel and motel tax; an allocation of $750,000 was approved by council in October 2025 for convention center planning, design and construction. Officials say the city will reimburse itself for these costs once financing is secured, according to past SBJ reporting.

The Populous contract specifies that if project funding is approved, another full project schedule for complete design and construction of the center will be developed with the design team, client and construction manager at risk.

Consultants are listed as Sapp Design Associates Architects Inc., local architecture partner; with engineers Olsson Inc., civil; MKA International Inc. (Walnut Creek, California), structural; and Henderson Engineers Inc. (Kansas City), mechanical, electrical and plumbing.

Populous also designs convention centers, like the BMO Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, winner of the 2025 American Architecture Award in the Exposition Center category.

In the U.S., some convention centers designed by Populous include the BASE at Extraco Convention Center in Waco, Texas, which opened in 2021; the Resch Expo in Green Bay, Wisconsin, 2021; the Oklahoma City Convention Center in Oklahoma, 2020; the Anaheim Convention Center in California, 2017; Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, 2016; and the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona, 2008. Centers in Los Angeles and Orlando, Florida, are in progress.

Rosenbury said construction of the Springfield convention center will likely end up in the $120 million range within the $175 million total project cost, subtracting professional expenses and land acquisition. He said architectural design will land somewhere between 7%-10% of the project cost, meaning the final contract could be as much as $10 million.

Response
The 70-person audience for the visioning session was held at the Discover Center in downtown Springfield.

When asked for his reaction to what he had heard, Chris Mattes, who lives outside of the city limits and would not be able to vote on the tax issue, said he works in the health care industry and is excited about the prospect of a new convention center in Springfield.

Mattes said he often tries to find the right size of venue for conferences around the state, with recent events in St. Charles, Kansas City and Branson.

“I’d love to bring it to Springfield, but they don’t have the right setup,” he said. “The Expo Center is fine for the exhibits, but then we don’t have the classroom space to have four or five educational offerings going on simultaneously, and then the hotel – University Plaza is in poor condition.”

Another audience member, Beth Hecquet, was present with her husband, Mark Hecquet, who markets meeting spaces as president and CEO of Visit Springfield, Missouri. Beth Hecquet’s interest was professional instead of personal, however; she plans conferences for the E.W. Scripps Co., a broadcasting company.

“It’s inspiring to see the vision that Populous is putting forth and to see their background,” she said. “I was always excited about the event center, especially now that I see that Populous is behind it and they come with such a strong breadth of expertise.”

She said conference-goers do not necessarily attend conferences to be educated by presenters.

“They’re there to network and to be educated by their peers in the common spaces that in the past used to just be a hallway. Now they’re purpose-built with the intent of drawing people in,” she said.

Hecquet added that when she is sourcing a meeting or event for people coming from throughout the country and the world, she wants them to experience the destination city.

Paulitsch’s presentation included examples of convention centers designed by Populous, and Hecquet said she was impressed by how the buildings reflected the unique character of the cities in which they were located.

“To me as a meeting planner, I’ve chosen that city for a reason – not just for the convention center; not just for the hotel,” she said. “If I’m going to a place that isn’t just showing me a box but it’s showing me a built-in experience of Springfield, of the Ozarks, of southwest Missouri, it’s one less thing I have to do. They’ve gotten that taken care of; I can focus on my speakers.”