[drummer]

That's actually a good point. A lot of conventions like one big room for the various kiosks, etc. With many of the types of events that we have in Austin, however, smaller rooms (ballrooms, etc.), may be more in demand - or maybe I'm just thinking that way without any real facts, of course. I agree that those buildings could easily go up (or down, though costs may prevent that). For contiguous space, the blocks lining Waller Creek might be better rather than taking away the ones on the west side (block 8 and the one to the north of it) - so long as the convention center relates well to the creek with all the new development (restaurants, coffee shops, etc., on the creek). The only disadvantage to anything like that is the possibility of lose parts of the street grid.