Los Angeles Convention Center Expansion and Modernization

The Los Angeles Convention Center is being rebuilt around its own weakest feature: two exhibit halls that have never connected. The $2.6 billion expansion and modernization project adds 190,000 square feet between the South and West halls to create one contiguous space of more than 750,000 square feet. Construction began October 1, 2025, and the center is staying fully operational throughout.

Project Scope

Beyond the exhibit hall connection, the program adds 39,000 square feet of new meeting room space and 95,000 square feet of multipurpose space. Populous leads the design team. A joint venture of PCL Construction and Webcor Builders holds the general contract, and Plenary Americas is the city’s development partner under a public-private partnership structure.

The majority of construction is scheduled to finish by spring 2028, with final completion in spring 2029. That phasing is driven by the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will use downtown venues.

Why It Matters

Los Angeles has lost convention business for years to cities with larger contiguous exhibit space. Splitting 560,000 square feet across two disconnected halls disqualifies a venue from the largest trade shows regardless of total square footage, because exhibitors will not split a floor plan across a public street.

Building this while the center keeps operating is the harder engineering problem. Phased delivery around live events means constrained laydown, night and weekend work windows, and utility tie-ins scheduled around show calendars rather than crew productivity. The P3 structure puts schedule risk on Plenary and the contracting JV rather than on the city.

Project Team & Details