Business & Tech

Abington Man Reelected to Head the PA Convention Center for Another Term

Gregory J. Fox will have to decide if the board should privatize the Center.

According to an article in the Philadelphia Business Journal, an Abington resident will remain the chair of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

Gregory J. Fox, who has served as the chair for the 15-member board since May 2011, will remain in his position, according to the article.

Fox is a partner at the Philadelphia law firm Montgomery McCracken.

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One of the first topics he will face in his new term will deal with whether or not to privatize the Center.

According to the Philadelphia Tribune, Fox is weighing the privatization in order to help with bookings for the Center as far out as 2015 and 2016.

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"The issue is, we’re in a very competitive environment in terms of bookings," Fox said in the Tribune article. "The booking reports for future years are not where we would want them to be. The question is can that issue be at least partially alleviated through private management, as opposed to public management."

Board members are skeptical about the idea.

"The biggest problem is the problem of labor relations - and the labor broker is a private manager, so privatization hasn’t worked so far, so why would we double down on privatization when it hasn’t worked in the labor scope?" Boardmember Ryan Boyer told the Tribune.

The Pennsylvania Convention Center is located along Arch Street in Philadelphia. It encompasses 1 million square feet, and is the 14th largest such center in the nation, according to its website.

"It was built in two parts, with the original section opening in 1993 and the expansion opening in 2011," said the Business Journal.


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