A major downtown redevelopment campaign in the late 1970s ultimately led to the siting of the Convention Center on 11 acres of Port of San Diego-owned land along San Diego Bay. City voters approved a proposal to build the waterfront convention center in November 1983. The Port agreed to fund the entire project at a cost of $164 million with no debt service. In December 1983, the City Council created the San Diego Convention Center Corporation to manage and operate the new facility upon completion. A nine-member board of directors was appointed to establish policy for the non-profit, public benefit corporation.

Construction of the 1.7 million square-foot building began in March 1987 and was completed in November 1989. During its first year of operation (FY90), the Convention Center accomplished its first major milestone, welcoming 1.1 million visitors to 354 events.

An expansion, which nearly doubled the building in size to 2.6 million total gross square feet, was completed in September 2001. The expansion grand opening in November 2001 coincided with the Society for Neuroscience’s five-day annual meeting. Neuroscience was the expanded Center’s first full-facility user attracting a record-breaking 28,600 national and international delegates just two months after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

The San Diego Convention Center is currently ranked 21st in size among the 375 convention facilities in North America.