New Exhibit Hall Planned Here

The city will disclose to day a plan to buifd the na tion's largest exhibition center covering three West Side blocks from 44th to 47th Street.

The proposed Center, be tween 10th and 11th Ave nues, would contain more than twice the exhibition space of the Coliseum on Co lumbus Circle.

Mayor Lindsay expects to have legislation introduced in Albany today to create a New York City Exhibition Center Development Corpo ration as the public agency to build and operate the fa cility. Construction costs have been estimated at $100‐million.

Part of Larger Plan

Construction of the con vention center is the first step in a redevelopment of the west midtown area as proposed by the Mayor's Office of Midtown Planning and Development, headed by Jacquelin T. Robertson.

The center's 750,000 square feet of exhibition space would be on a main floor about 70 feet high and on the mez zanine levels. Hopefully the center would put New York back in the running for ma jor trade shows and even national political conventions now being lost to halls in Chicago and other large cities.

Other projects in the pro posed transformation of the West Side include the follow ing:

¶A 48th Street crosstown subway or “people mover” conveyance, with a western terminal on the block adjoin ing the convention center on the north.

¶Development of 48th Street west of Eighth Ave nue as a major new center of high‐rise office and com mercial structures.

¶Residential redevelop ment on a large number of blocks west of Eighth Ave nue between 43d and 57th streets.

¶Eventual construction of a new rapid‐transit tunnel under the Hudson at 48th Street to link up with com muter lines in New Jersey.

New Fund Source Needed

The city administration is asking the Legislature to create the new public‐benefit corporation to build the con vention center because, as Mr. Robertson puts it, “the city itself can't swallow that cost with its present debt limit.”

The corporation, if ap proved by the Legislature, would have a seven‐man board of directors appointed by the Mayor.

Under the proposed legis lation three of the members would he city officials—the Controller, Chairman of the City Planning Commission and the Administrator of the Economic Development Ad ministration. The actual en gineering plans of the pro posed center would have to be approved by both the Planning Commission and the Board of Estimate.

The corporation would is sue tax‐exempt bonds, ac cording to the city bill, to pay for construction.

While city officials concede that Chicago's sprawling Mc Cormick Place is a larger ?? with 1,800,000 square feet over‐all, they say that it has a smaller amount of exhibition space‐600,000 square feet—than the pro posed Manhattan structure. McCormick Place also in cludes a huge auditorium.

Present plans for the West Side structure do not include an auditorium or any perma nent tiers of seats on the exhibition floors.

The proposed center would have parking facilities for 2,000 to 3,000 cars in a base ment garage and on a deck between 11th and 12th Ave nues. There would be an access ramp to the West Side Highway.

The proposed center would also straddle the three‐track Penn Central freight line that runs in a deep cut just west of 10th Avenue. The line would be used for freight de liveries to the center. Mr. Robertson said there were also long‐range plans to de velop the line, which runs up the Hudson to Conkers, as a commuter route.

Arthur D. Little, Inc., con sultant to the city on the convention center, said the hall would be likely to Eit tract more than $70‐million in direct expenditures here in its first year.

A number of commercial buildings and residences housing about 300 families would have to be taken down. The estimated time for clear ing the site and erecting the building is about five years.

The city has opposed ex panding the Coliseum, which is operated by a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Trans portation Authority. The city argues that the Columbus Circle area is already too con gested and that the Colise um's 300,000 square feet of exhibit space are inefficiently scattered on several levels.