San Diego Convention Center

The San Diego Convention Center is the main convention center in San Diego, California. It is in the Marina district of downtown San Diego. The center is managed by the San Diego Convention Center Corporation.

The convention center has  of exhibit area. As of 2009 it was the 24th largest convention center in North America. It was designed by Canadian architect Arthur Erickson.  The building can hold 125,000 people.

The center's best known feature is the Sails Pavilion. It is a  exhibit and special event area. The Sails Pavilion's roof includes Teflon-coated fiberglass "sails". They are intended to show San Diego's maritime history. The Pavilion was first built as an open-air facility under the roof. This made it hard to get people to use it. Because of this, the Pavilion area was enclosed in glass. This made it much more usable.

History
San Diego  approved the construction of a new convention center in 1983. It was built on land owned by the Port of San Diego. Construction of the building began in March 1987 and was finished in November 1989. The center was made larger in September 2001 by doubling its square footage.

Notable events hosted at the convention center include the Comic Con International convention. It hosted the 1996 Republican National Convention, which nominated Bob Dole and Jack Kemp for President and Vice President of the United States.

References

Other websites




Category:Convention and exhibition centers in the United States
Category:Buildings and structures in San Diego
Category:1989 establishments in California