The Monroeville Convention Center will be shuttered this summer to make way for a Hobby Lobby, a national art and crafts retail chain.
Owners Oxford Development confirmed Monday the 100,000-square-foot expo center — adjacent to Monroeville Mall and the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel on Mall Boulevard — will close. The center’s website does not list any events beyond March, and several of its regular clients are seeking new venues for their conventions.
“We are excited to welcome Hobby Lobby as a new business to serve the needs of the local community and region,” said Oxford spokesperson Megan Stearman. “This new business in the heart of Monroeville’s retail business district will create jobs that add to the revitalization of Monroeville with the regular presence of employees, customers and vendors.”
Several expo organizers are significantly less excited.
Comic, film and entertainment expo Steel City Con typically books multiple annual events at the convention center. Steel City Con co-owner Robert Stein said he was informed by owners Oxford Development last week by phone and through a letter that the property would be under a new lease as of June 1, and the convention center would cease operations.
“We have enjoyed being in Monroeville for over 30 years,” Stein said. “We are devastated by the closure of the Monroeville Convention Center but excited as to what lies ahead. We will make an announcement on a new venue soon.”
Harold Katofsky of Gratzie Ventures, which organizes the annual Monroeville Fire & EMS Show at the convention center, said he also was told last week by convention center management that a new lease for the site will go into effect June 1.
“We have a tattoo show in May which we’ll still hold there, and we have another in October that will be relocated,” Katofsky said.
The Pittsburgh Gaming Expo posted on its social media Monday that organizers had begun reaching out for a new venue to host its 2024 event, scheduled for October. Expo co-owner Brian Wissner said the news comes at a time when they have made some big gains in popularizing their event.
“For the first two years, we were only using half the venue,” Wissner said. “Last year was the first time we had the whole place. From a logistics standpoint, we’ve booked several bands for the event, multiple industry guests, a massive arcade. There’s a lot of moving pieces that go into our show. To have to punch the brakes all of a sudden is really difficult. We have obligations to uphold and, right now, we don’t have a venue to do it in.”
Wissner said he received a phone call from convention center management and a subsequent letter that it would be unavailable as of June 1 because of “significant construction work.”
Edward Kunz grew up in Monroeville and now lives in Millvale. He is one of the many Steel City Con fans reacting to the news on the convention’s official fan Facebook page.
“I think that it’s terribly sad to see it go,” he wrote. “The convention center brought a wide variety of events to Monroeville and, as such, an equally diverse mixture of people.
“This seems to me to be a great loss to the community. I loved having Steel City Con in Monroeville and made many memories there. I feel that the only upside about this is perhaps we will get a larger venue which will allow the con to grow bigger than ever before.”
Benjamin Furman lives in Monroeville, about 10 minutes from the convention center.He agreed a bigger venue may make Steel City Con feel less crowded, but said it might not have the same magic as it does in Monroeville. He plans to be at the April show.
“The Con being at the convention center had some magic to it,” Furman wrote. “Walking through the main doors and then boom — vendors, artwork, toys, video games, seeing everyone with all the costumes — it was like entering into another world. Then the celebrities in the back hall, plus the hotel. I thought that the recent cons had reached a new level of organization with the help from the hotel and all the volunteers helping make it work smoothly.”