"Hanging Diapers" And Three Other Complaints About The Javits Center

Photograph by fresh turnip on Flickr

Last week, we found out that Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to raze the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center to make way for a new convention center in Queens, even though $400 million is being spent to renovate the Javits Center. While Empire State Development Corporation spokesman Austin Shafran said of the renovations, "This is essential work. Finishing this work will allow Javits to hold on to the business it has and be an acceptable facility while it still stands," the NY Times has some damning statements about the place.

Mark Wigley, the dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation: "It’s just such an awful building that the only reason to keep it would be as a monument to stupidity."
Governor Cuomo to the NY Times: "The day it opened it was outdated and already behind schedule."
ESDC spokesman Shafran further clarified his comments, "This is essential work to fix basic issues such as well-documented roof leaks that have been covered by hanging diapers."
And even architect Bruce S. Fowle, who is overseeing the renovation, is backhanded in his praise: "It’s not the black hole that it was. The space will feel brighter, more cheerful."

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By Jen Chung in News on January 23, 2012 2:33 PM

Comments [rss]

Jessica Jones

You can't build a convention center unless you tear down another one? What is this some type of rule that a city is only allowed one single convention center?

Roger Vectorvictor

and somehow a massive convention complex in Jamaica (!) will be an improvement? other than proximity to JFK, what does that location have that will appeal to a conventioneer from out of town? The fact that it's being backed by a Malaysian (?) gaming (!) concern makes it doubly dubious. Luring conventions is a suckers' game, best played by second- and third-tier cities.

Joe_Schumacher

No out-of-towners want to go to a convention near JFK.

But I'm convinced this is a brilliant move on Cuomo's part. Convention centers are money sinks for cities. He gets Genting to build this convention center/mega casino on their own dime. Once it gets built the state sells off the land that Javits sits on and the city then benefits by getting several square blocks of additional tax-paying commercial and residential space. That's a win for Genting, a win for New York State, and a win for the city.