The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority is pushing ahead with plans for the expansion of its South Boston exhibition center even as the governor has put the brakes on $1 billion in bonding needed for the project and its champion, authority head James Rooney, is taking a new job.
The Boston Convention & Exhibition Center expansion committee yesterday voted to designate the architectural team of Brooks + Scarpa of Los Angeles and Spalding Tougias of Boston as its preliminary choice to design two garages on E and D streets.
The garages, with a combined 1,500 spaces, would replace parking that will be lost to the expansion project. The MCCA will now negotiate a contract with the architectural firms.
The move comes as Gov. Charlie Baker's administration continues to review the financing of the BCEC expansion after the bonding was put on hold soon after the governor took office.
Rooney, the executive director of the MCCA who has pushed hard for the expansion, is taking over the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on July 1, but said yesterday he remains confident the BCEC project will go forward without him at the helm.
"I don't think this is about me. I think that the vision, the program, the economic development opportunities are much bigger than one person," Rooney said. "There's a very strong team of people here that have contributed to the success of the operation."
But Rooney also is looking ahead to his new job, saying he plans to reach out to startups and tech companies to integrate them into the chamber, and may even do away with its signature breakfast networking events.
The breakfasts are a Boston business institution, but may not be as welcoming to a new generation of business leaders, he said.
"These breakfasts and other things the chamber does that might have been part of the success strategy for the past 25 years, I think we need to take a fresh look at those," said Rooney. "Is this the kind of thing that millennials want when they think about networking and socialization?"
Under retiring CEO Paul Guzzi, the chamber has started to become more active in the high-tech community, and Rooney said he will focus on continuing to expand the diversity of the chamber's membership.
"Certainly understanding how the so-called new economy and the technology, innovation-based industries affect what we define as commerce in Boston will be a focus area," he said.
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