Precision Under Pressure: Scheduling the $2.6 Billion LA Convention Center Expansion

A Global Stage for the 2028 Olympics

CMC Project Solutions is proud to announce that we have been selected to support the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) Expansion and Modernization Project by providing Project Scheduling and Project Controls services. This ambitious $2.6 billion initiative is more than just a construction project; it is a symbol of Los Angeles’s future on the world stage. By transforming the LACC into a state-of-the-art contiguous campus, the expansion serves as a catalyst for the city’s 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The City of Los Angeles emphasizes that this project will ensure the city is “fully prepared to welcome the world during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.” As Mayor Karen Bass observes, the expansion sends “a message to the world that L.A. is ready to compete and win on the global stage.”

The LACC glass rotunda illuminated at night, symbolizing a city preparing to welcome the world

The LACC upgrade is also central to Downtown LA’s revitalization. Mayor Bass notes that the expansion will “revitalize the Downtown area [and] create new economic opportunities.” In fact, the modernized Convention Center is slated to host multiple Olympic sporting events for example, it will host competitions in fencing, wrestling, and table tennis for the 2029 Games, which makes on-time delivery absolutely critical. There is zero margin for delay when the global spotlight (and calendar) is fixed.

Design rendering of the future Los Angeles Convention Center expansion, illustrating the architectural vision for the project. (Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles Convention Center)

Project Scope Overview

• Unified Hall: The project will connect the existing South and West Exhibit halls by adding 190,000 square feet of new exhibit space, creating a single contiguous hall exceeding 750,000 sq. ft. This unified layout dramatically expands the Convention Center’s capacity, allowing the Convention Center to accommodate significantly larger conventions and events.
• Pico Passage: A critical engineering element is the “Pico Passage”, a massive structural link spanning Pico Boulevard to physically connect the two halls. By carrying visitors and services over a busy city street, this overhead link enables seamless circulation between the halls without disrupting traffic below.
• Modernization: Beyond simply adding space, the entire complex is being modernized. The expansion includes a new 98,000 sq. ft. rooftop ballroom and roughly 39,000 sq. ft. of additional meeting-room space. All public areas will be overhauled with upgraded finishes and technology. A highlight of the design is the complete redesign of the Gilbert Lindsay Plaza into an expanded open-air event venue, providing a welcoming public “front door” to the new campus.
• Operational Continuity: Remarkably, this entire construction occurs while the existing Convention Center remains fully open. According to project documentation, “the convention center will remain open during construction” and still achieve “Olympic readiness by spring 2028.” Keeping trade shows, concerts, and conferences running without interruption is an enormous scheduling challenge, but it is essential to support the local economy. Our scheduling and controls approach supports careful phasing so that the facility can continue normal operations as new space is constructed.

Sweeping nighttime view captures the full scope and ambition of the LACC expansion

Schedule & Controls: Our North Star

• Beating the Olympic Clock: The 2028 Games impose a fixed, immovable deadline. Construction experts note that since Los Angeles is hosting the Olympics, “construction needs to begin immediately” or planned events, like judo and wrestling, may not have a venue. In practical terms, CMC’s scheduling team uses rigorous critical-path techniques and daily progress tracking to support on-time delivery of key milestones. We build contingency into the critical path, sequence work in tight logical order, and monitor tasks constantly, all to help keep the project aligned with Olympic readiness milestones. In fact, the plan calls for a majority of construction to be finished by Spring 2028 (with final completion in 2029), leaving virtually no slack.
• Mitigating Risk in Real Time: In a multi-billion-dollar project like this, schedule management and cost control go hand in hand. Modern project controls effectively serve as an “early warning system” for cost and schedule variances. At CMC, we integrate real-time schedule tracking with earned-value and cost analytics. If a critical path activity begins to slip, integrated schedule and performance data can flag emerging issues for review by the project team. This data-driven approach enables the team to model impacts and enact corrective actions before problems compound. As one industry expert notes, good cost-schedule integration transforms the schedule into a predictive tool, providing “confidence that [projects] are being managed rigorously.” By applying these principles, the project team gains earlier visibility into potential delays and cost impacts.
• Collaborative Partnership: Delivering the LACC expansion requires teamwork. CMC’s schedulers and controllers will work hand-in-hand with the project’s major partners. The City’s development partner is Plenary Americas, and the general contractor is the PCL/Webcor joint venture. The design team is led by Populous (with AEG Facilities involved). We coordinate schedule and risk information with key stakeholders, joining regular coordination meetings, sharing planning data, and aligning timelines. This close collaboration across Plenary, PCL/Webcor, the City, and other parties helps synchronize every subcontractor and supplier toward the same critical deadlines.

The glass tower entry, soon to be part of a connected, modernized convention experience

The Large-Scale Expert: CMC’s Value Proposition

• Proof of Concept: This landmark project explicitly demonstrates CMC’s strengths in managing massive public-private partnerships. As our leadership often says, “This project reinforces our experience supporting large, high-complexity public-private partnership (P3) programs.” The LACC renovation serves as a strong example of our scheduling and controls expertise applied at a large scale. Successfully delivering schedule and cost controls on a project of this magnitude builds trust with stakeholders and proves that CMC is up to the task of any complex P3 environment.
• Data-Driven Leadership: Throughout the LACC modernization, CMC’s approach will be intensely data-driven. We employ integrated master schedules, earned-value tracking, and real-time dashboards so that every decision is based on solid data. By tightly linking progress to budget in our systems, stakeholders gain full transparency and confidence. In practice, this supports timely access to schedule and cost information for project leadership and delivery partners, consistent with governance requirements. Any change in the plan – from a design tweak to an inflation increase, is modeled immediately so that leadership sees the impact before it happens. This rigorous, numbers-driven process ensures that the LACC expansion is guided by facts, not guesswork.

Looking Ahead: Legacy and Call to Action

When completed, the expanded and modernized Convention Center will leave a lasting legacy for Los Angeles. As LA Convention Center General Manager Kimberly Weedmark observes, “An expanded and modernized Convention Center will transform the landscape of Downtown Los Angeles for following generations.” By supporting disciplined schedule and cost controls, the project team is positioned to deliver the facility in alignment with City goals, including thousands of new jobs and hundreds of millions in annual visitor spending. The project’s success will ripple through the city’s economy for decades to come, reinforcing Los Angeles’s status as a premier destination for global events and conventions.

We invite industry colleagues and stakeholders to follow our journey. Connect with CMC Project Solutions on LinkedIn and our company channels for behind-the-scenes updates on the LACC project. We’ll be sharing progress milestones, challenges solved, and insights from within the schedule and project controls process. Stay tuned, the journey to Olympic readiness is just beginning, and we look forward to keeping our peers and community informed every step of the way.