Kevin Molloy, new executive director of Lancaster County Convention Center Authority, gets a view of the center's construction from the 12th floor of the Griest Building. Photo Courtesy Lancaster Newspapers

Lancaster Intelligencer Journal

May 24, 2008

Kevin R. Molloy was just three years out of college when he got his first job running an events facility.

He oversaw the transformation of a Maine hay field into a small arena for hockey and skating. Then, as general manager, he added artificial turf that allowed Sukee Arena & Events Center to be used for indoor soccer, field hockey and other events. It was important, he said, that the arena be used throughout the year.

"Every one of these projects has their own niche, and you have to creatively figure out how to make it work," Molloy, who has managed five facilities over more than 20 years, said.

On Monday, Molloy arrived in Lancaster, where the new executive director of Lancaster County Convention Center Authority will open the center and try to make it work.

He replaces authority board Chairman Art Morris, who has served as interim executive director since the departure of David Hixson in August.

Molloy, 47, is confident the $170 million meeting center and attached Marriott hotel will succeed.

Its niche, he said, is in its downtown location. Meeting planners will be attracted by the historic Watt & Shand façade married to a modern facility and within easy driving distance of major metropolitan areas. And conventioneers will appreciate exploring the city outside the center doors.

Unlike many other cities, the restaurants and shops in Lancaster are not part of national chains.

"I think when people come to Lancaster, they're going to be able to experience the flavor of Lancaster," Molloy said. "People don't want to have the same thing they can have at home."

Molloy said he, his wife, Lisa, and college-age son, Kyle, spent four hours walking the streets of Lancaster early last month, soon after he landed the $121,000-a-year job. They wanted to explore the next place they will call home.

Molloy has made his home where his career has carried him. He comes to Lancaster from Erie, where he spent six years opening Bayfront Convention Center. The $44 million center is attached to a 200-room Sheraton hotel.

That facility, about 10 miles from downtown Erie, opened in August and has surpassed projections in attendance, events and revenue, he said.

"We did what we set out to do - open it, open it right and get community buy-in," he said.

Molloy believes the Lancaster community will buy into the new facility here, too. But bringing in the events might take some time, he said.

"Your first year is your worst year," he said. "Then you go up from there."

A few consumer shows, such as home shows or boat shows, already are scheduled for the new facility soon after its planned March 2009 opening.

Those kinds of events are typical of an opening of a center, and the number is consistent with other venues he has managed, Molloy said.

Multiday conventions are harder to get, and he's pleased that one state association already is coming here next year. Typically, it takes a few years to establish the positive track record that association meeting planners want to see.

Lancaster's urban location is more comparable to Molloy's experience at Polk County Convention Complex in Des Moines, Iowa. "Des Moines was not a new-build, but the rebranding and reorganization, that had its own challenges and solutions to find ... that we were very proud of," he said.

The complex was the former venue for the Iowa caucuses and presidents and would-be presidents were there regularly, but Molloy doesn't have a wall of photos of him shaking hands with famous people.

That's not his style, Molloy said. Instead, he recalls his departure from Des Moines, when the entire staff took him out to dinner.

"That was probably more important to me than a picture with a famous person," he said.

Unlike Des Moines and the other facilities that Molloy has been involved with, in Lancaster he will not be involved in the day-to-day management. That task is being left to the staff from Interstate Hotels. The hotel managers will run both the Marriott and the meeting center under a contract with the Convention Center Authority.

Molloy will be behind the scenes, he said. He will represent the authority, work as an advocate for the community and make sure the facility is performing as well as it can, he said.

"I bring excitement to the project, and I want to do the best I can," he said.