When construction of the NYS Fairgrounds’ vaunted Expo Center was completed in 2018, it promised two things.
First, it would keep the Fairgrounds humming with events year-round, not just during the summer fair. Second, it would draw in mega-sized shows that would have otherwise passed Syracuse by.
The new facility would be a “year-round economic engine,” said former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, at the unveiling of the facility’s blueprints in 2017. The Expo Center would “take this whole region to a new level,” he said a year later on opening day.
The price tag on that dream was $63 million. Now, five years after it opened, has the building lived up to expectations?
The majority of the events held there are shows that had been coming to the fairgrounds even before the Expo Center was built. Three big events — the Winter Fair, volleyball tournaments and a Motocross event —came to the fairgrounds expressly for the Expo Center. But one of those can’t use the massive new building because of a water damage issue.
The facility hosted events on 77 days last year (including the 12-day run of the NYS Fair). That’s down slightly from 2019. It has generated around $2.5 million in rental income for the fair since 2018.
Despite the meager influx of new events, fair officials say the building has been a boon.
“The Exposition Center continues to be a draw for major events, exhibits, and shows, boosting the Fairgrounds’ year-round event capacity,” Interim Fair Director Sean Hennessy said.
Measuring the impact of the building is a murky process. Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard obtained rental invoice records through a Freedom of Information Act request. The initial records included clerical errors that estimated the total rental income as almost double the true value, and recorded shows that did not happen as having taken place. Syracuse.com checked the records with renters and the Fairgrounds to determine the final figures.
How often is the Expo Center used?
In 2018, the facility housed events a total of 26 days during the 131 days left after it opened in August, according to records.
The next year, that number increased to 85 days booked of 365. (Those tallies include NY State Fair days. They do not include the extra days organizers often need to move in or out of the space.)
The pandemic put a halt to the 2020 State Fair and most events from the end of 2020 through 2021, though the Expo Center was busy churning out Covid shots as one of America’s busiest vaccination sites from January 13, 2021 to July 14, 2021.
In 2022, 77 days of events were held during the year. The data available for 2023, which lists events through March, shows an increase — 31 days of events were held in the first three months this year.
Has the Expo Center attracted new events to Syracuse?
The Expo Center’s other promise was to usher in big, new events to the Fairgrounds.
Most of the shows that have been held there in the years since its construction have been longstanding shows that previously were held in other buildings, according to the Fairgrounds records and interviews with event-holders.
That’s horse shows, boat shows, train shows, dog shows, farm shows, RV shows, home and garden shows, graduation ceremonies and comic cons — the Fairgrounds’ bread and butter since pre-Expo Center.
A handful of events held at the Expo Center are new to the Fairgrounds. The New York Army National Guard rolls Reapers and helicopters into the building for the State Fair each year. There were two concerts: Lil Durk in 2020 and Young Thug in 2021. Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool High School started using the Expo Center last year for events, and Le Moyne College held their commencement there in 2021 and 2022.
There are three new heavy-hitters: the NYS Winter Fair (a three-day event held each year since 2019, except during Covid), IREVA volleyball competitions (a two-day event held in 2022 and 2023) and an annual Auto Racing Series Motocross tournament (a two-day event held in 2019 and 2022).
Those events are the result, so far, of the Fairgrounds’ original mission to “... increase the amount of business we do out here, the shows we bring in,” something former NYS Fair director Troy Waffner said in 2018.
But recent water “issues” have prevented all horse shows and the annual Auto Racing Series Motocross race from being held in the Expo Center, said the Fairgrounds.
That Motocross show can’t set up in any of the Fairgrounds’ other buildings or any other venues in Syracuse, said Leonard Sammons, the organizer of the event, so they have to find another venue outside of the city.
The Fairgrounds told Sammons that water had leaked into the electrical system in the floor after routine washing. Heavy cleaning happens after the racecar and horse shows, said Sammons, since they have to put down dirt and other materials. The Fairgrounds doesn’t want to risk going through that cleaning process after the Motocross race and getting water into the system again, he said.
“We’re still holding out hope that we would be able to (return),” said Sammons.
Repairs to the water damage are waiting on a completed engineering study, said a Fairgrounds spokesperson. The Fairgrounds would not share details of the study or a timeline for any repairs.
“We’ve saved the date, but we’ve been told there’s no progress,” said Sammons.
The water issue comes in addition to concerns from longstanding shows that can’t afford rising rents across the board.
“The major downfall, of course, is the rental rates for the Expo Center is substantially more — at least, they used to be substantially more — than the other facilities at the fairgrounds,” said Phil Edwards, one of the organizers of The Great New York State Model Train Fair.
How much has the Expo Center made in rent?
Since opening day in August 2018 to March 2023, the facility has made around $2.5 million in rental income. (There were another $362,000 in events confirmed for 2020 before they were shut down by the pandemic and the Fairgrounds refunded the money.)
The rental rates for the multi-purpose Expo Center are determined by the size of the show and equipment or services required (like ticket booths, forklifts and operators, jumbotrons, or audio technicians), but the base daily price is $11,010 for trade shows or $7,705 for horse shows.
Without this year’s Auto Racing Series Motocross event alone, the Fairgrounds will be out $35,000.
Longstanding vendors may not be the fresh flood of clientele that officials hoped to draw to the facility, but those old vendors who can afford the Expo Center are happy to have it. It’s just a lot nicer than the old buildings, they say.
“The Expo Center just threw the doors right open for me, just because of the amount of space,” said Norm Wightman, who runs the two decades-old New York Sportsman’s Expo, which used to be held elsewhere on the grounds.
Kent Hogeboom runs the annual Highway & Public Works Expo each year. Some of the vendors at his October show were forced to set up outside the Center of Progress building for lack of space.
“We had outgrown (that) building,” said Hogeboom. It was still the best option for them in the region, so they would’ve stayed, he said.
But once plans for the Expo Center were announced, “we were thrilled to hear about it,” he said.
The quality of the facility isn’t the issue, say longstanding vendors. The price tag is a sticking point.
“I don’t like it but I get it,” said Wightman, the Sportsman’s Expo organizer. “It’s the price you pay for being big-time.”
READ MORE:
Taxpayers spent $63 million for the NY State Fair Expo Center. Are we getting our money’s worth?
See inside the new $63M Expo Center at the NYS Fair
State Fair plans to build biggest expo center north of New York City
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