A group of business and tourism officials wants to undertake a scaled-down $171 million expansion of the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center.

        The smaller expansion endorsed Friday by Mayor Charlie Luken's task force would reach west to Interstate 75 but not across the freeway as a previous $340 million plan suggested.

        The 279,000-square-foot expansion would open in 2007 and provide an annual $236 million economic boost, a consultant said.

        But the consultant also warned that the city has to do more than expand the convention center. It also needs to polish its image as a desirable destination.

        Task force members, meeting for the first time in more than five months, say the commitment to a smaller project shows a more realistic approach to the long-awaited expansion.

        “I'm glad,” said Nat Comisar, a task force member and chairman of Maisonette Restaurant Group. “The reality is that the economy depends on bringing in money” from visitors outside Greater Cincinnati.

        The expansion, debated and studied since 1999, hasn't been completed because politicians have been reluctant to pay for it.

        Task force Chairman Dan Meyer expects to introduce a funding plan next month that asks for less money from Cincinnati and “zero to minimal” funding from Hamilton County.

        The previous proposed expansion across Interstate 75 depended on each government kicking in $30 million, an amount Hamilton County officials were reluctant to pay because of the county's debt from the $1 billion-plus riverfront development.

        Restaurants, hotels and other stakeholders would pay a large share of the smaller expansion through hotel and restaurant taxes. Consultant John Kaatz of Minneapolis-based Convention Sports & Leisure said a smaller expansion would give Cincinnati more bang for the buck than a larger project.

        Without expansion, Cincinnati would be dangerously close to “falling out of the convention business altogether,” Mr. Kaatz said.

        The smaller expansion would entail acquiring and demolishing the WCPO Channel 9 building, pushing the convention center across Central Avenue.

        That would add 40,000 square feet of exhibit space to the center's 162,000 square feet. The existing space would be renovated. The ballroom space would more than double to 70,000 square feet, and more docking space would make it easier for multiple conventions to prepare.

        Mr. Kaatz said a modest expansion would keep Cincinnati competitive with other Midwest cities, but he said the city also must boost its image.

        Convention planners nationwide cited Cincinnati's lack of attractions and its service problems as reasons to avoid the Queen City. Also, meeting planners are wary of Cincinnati because they believe fewer people attend conventions here compared with other cities.

        The city's convention reputation has suffered because officials have discussed and studied the expansion for years without a firm commitment to build.

        Mr. Meyer described the report as a “splash of cold water” on the assumption that a larger convention center would automatically reel in big-spending conventioneers to Cincinnati.

        The city must do a better job of selling what it has, Mr. Meyer said. One solution could be creating a governing agency to oversee the city-owned convention center.

        The Greater Cincinnati Convention & Visitors Bureau has started a program to capture the convention business of local corporations. Interim bureau President Chuck Curran has sent letters to the area's largest corporations, urging them to consider Cincinnati first when planning meetings.

        Cincinnati isn't the only city experiencing a convention slump. Conventions nationwide have been canceled or delayed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The meetings that have been held have reported lower attendance, Mr. Kaatz said.

        Even if Cincinnati's convention center is renovated and enlarged, it still must compete against Indianapolis, Lexington, Columbus and other Midwest cities topping off larger expansions.

        “If everybody is doubling their space, the question becomes, "If I can go to any of a long list of destinations, why would I pick Cincinnati?'” said Heywood T. Sanders, chairman of the department of public administration at the University of Texas, San Antonio, who has studied convention center expansions nationwide.

        Mr. Sanders said cities having trouble filling new convention space are resorting to incentives such as paying for shuttle bus service or keynote speakers.

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