Boston's Hynes Convention Center. Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff

The quasi-public authority that runs the state’s convention centers has a five-year plan to “keep the lights on” at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston’s Back Bay, as it stares down over $100 million in deferred maintenance costs and work to bring the building up to the most recent standards of code compliance.

But some members of the board still seem to be questioning whether it makes sense to pump money into the convention center when there’s another one across town that’s newer and bigger — and the sale of the Hynes would free up about six acres of prime real estate in the middle of Boston.

The board of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority voted last year to invest $50 million into deferred maintenance at the Hynes for critical mechanical and electrical systems that had become outdated. The authority anticipates they will need another $70 million to $80 million to complete the work currently outlined in the five-year plan.

Over the next five years, the MCCA is planning nine closures of the building, each about 13 or 14 weeks long, for major construction, John Donahue, chief of operations and capital projects, said at an authority board meeting on Thursday.

“The $50 million authorization [will] just keep the lights on and to keep the air moving in the facility,” Donahue said.

He was seeking the board’s approval to move forward in a regulatory process to get a construction manager who can oversee additional improvements to the building alongside the necessary electrical work.

“Can we utilize those nine closures and handle what we know are inherent issues with the Hynes? We have a multitude of reports that show that we have deficiencies not only from deferred maintenance – that we’ve kicked the can so many years down the road and we have systems that need to be replaced – but we also have some compliance issues that once we begin spending this level of funding on the Hynes, would trigger us to be required to do that,” Donahue said.

A 2019 presentation from the authority identified $25 million to $30 million that the Hynes needed in system upgrades over two years, and $200 million in other capital needs over the next decade. It also noted that the convention center “substantially underperforms peer facilities in comparable markets.”

The issues of deferred maintenance and underperformance led former Gov. Charlie Baker to propose selling the Hynes in 2019 to generate money to pay for an expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in South Boston — which is about three times the size of the Back Bay center and 40 years newer.

That plan ran into roadblocks before lawmakers ultimately spiked it with a study order as the pandemic took over almost all attention on Beacon Hill. Another attempt in 2022 again fell flat.

Gov. Maura Healey, who replaced the majority of the MCCA’s board last summer, seems focused on keeping both Boston convention centers running for now.

But board member Michael Donavan questioned the move Thursday. Donavan was appointed by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and represents the South Boston community on the board – where the BCEC is, which would have benefited from the Hynes’ sale.

“We keep doing short-term, must-do improvements down there at the Hynes,” he said. “Who would, how does somebody call for the sale of it? That would make a statement we’re not putting any more money in. What person, the legislature or the board itself? How do we run that risk of saying, ‘Hold up, it’s not feasible anymore, let’s sell it.'”

Donahue replied that the board already approved the $50 million project last year, but ultimately the land is owned by the authority and would be responsible for putting it up for sale.

“The directive I have is that we’re going to continue to make the facility viable and occupiable and this begins that process,” Donahue said.

The capital projects chief said that these projects would just bring the building up to date and up to compliance, what he called “necessary repairs.” Other improvements to make the convention center more competitive against other cities would require further investment, he said.

“The deferred maintenance at the Hynes Convention Center has created an environment where at a certain point, there would be literally no electricity throughout the entire building. So no matter what long or short-term planning might happen, it would not be helpful for the commonwealth to have an asset – 6 acres – with no electricity,” said board member Meg Mainzer-Cohen.

She added that the upcoming five-year project was necessarily to “protect the value” of the building.

The board voted unanimously to start the process to hire a construction manager to oversee deferred maintenance at the Hynes.