The Boston skyline looms in the distance beyond the Thomas M. Menino Convention and Exhibition Center, which hosted the National Conference of State Legislatures annual summit on Aug. 4, 2025. Photo by Chris Lisinski | State House News Service
Seventy-two hours into the job, John Barros was already reopening doors that have been jammed shut for years.
Asked whether Boston needs more convention space, the newly appointed interim executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority didn’t duck a question that has tripped up his predecessors for more than a decade, and inflamed neighborhood groups, governors, lawmakers and labor unions.
“As far as I know, we could use more space, right?” Barros said. “And so I look forward to further looking into that, further understanding that, having conversations with the team at the MCCA and others about how we strengthen the MCCA so that we can do more in Boston, grow our economy and have more impact.”
Pressed on whether “more space” meant reviving the long-discussed expansion of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, now renamed the Menino Convention and Exhibition Center, Barros didn’t retreat.
“That’s right,” he said. “I think there’s, you know, the conversation about the proposed expansion of the Menino Center is really important.”
Menino Center Expansion’s Fraught History
The question of expansion has a long and politically fraught history.
In 2014, the Legislature and then-Gov. Deval Patrick authorized the MCCA to borrow up to $1 billion to finance a 1.3 million-square-foot expansion of the BCEC in South Boston. Former Gov. Charlie Baker put that plan on ice shortly after taking office, citing concerns about whether the center could support the debt without drawing on the state budget, before later reviving a scaled-back plan tied to the sale of Boston’s other convention center.
That linkage – expansion in South Boston in exchange for selling the aging Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay – became the flashpoint.
Baker argued as recently as 2022 that selling the Hynes was necessary to help finance a BCEC expansion, but lawmakers dismissed that approach amid opposition from Back Bay residents, labor unions and neighborhood groups, and have not revived it. Questioned on the sale of the Hynes, Barros struck a note of openness.
“The Hynes is a really important space in Boston. So really important space in our convention portfolio,” Barros said. “It is really important that we look at that in terms of demand and the MCCA’s ability to host different conventions, and then to talk to the local stakeholders, right? Whether it’s the hotel and hospitality industry, small businesses in that area and together, continue to figure out how we make it work for the local economic or tourism ecosystem.”
When the debate was hot, the Hynes – which officials have said is occupied roughly 40 percent of the time – was nonetheless fiercely defended by Back Bay businesses who argued that even at that level of use it fills nearby hotels and restaurants, and serves as an economic anchor for the neighborhood. The MCCA board voted in 2023 to invest $50 million as part of a five-year plan to “keep the lights on” at the smaller convention center, which faces $70 million to $80 million in deferred maintenance.
Barros would not say definitively whether he favors keeping or selling the Hynes, but signaled he is open to reassessing its place in the city’s and state’s economy rather than treating its future as a foregone conclusion.
When the News Service sought to pin him down – was he not taking a position one way or the other, but committing to assessing it? – Barros laughed.
“That’s accurate, 72 hours in.”
Barros Inherits Agency Facing Challenges
Barros, a Boston native and former chief of economic development under Mayor Marty Walsh, stepped into leadership in mid-January of a 400-person agency whose long-term vision has largely been frozen by scandal, churn and mistrust.
The MCCA oversees the Menino center and the Hynes in Boston, the MassMutual Center in Springfield, the Lawn on D and the Boston Common Garage: assets that underpin a convention and tourism business that remains a major economic engine for both cities.
Yet the agency Barros inherits has spent recent years lurching from controversy to controversy. Allegations of racial discrimination, failures to comply with public records law, questionable procurement practices, disputes over South Boston land deals and a steady parade of executive departures have battered the MCCA’s reputation on Beacon Hill and beyond.
Among the bright spots Barros pointed to are repeat conventions, rising attendance and a record number of attendees already scheduled for 2026 – a year when Massachusetts expects an influx of visitors tied to the FIFA World Cup, the return of the Tall Ships and celebrations marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“We have seen an increase in events, an increase in attendance,” he said. “The core business of the convention center is strong. It has a tremendous economic impact directly on hotel rooms, on the tourism industry, our restaurants, it helps to create jobs, sustain jobs.”
Barros also highlighted the MassMutual Center in Springfield, which he said had “an excellent year,” generating thousands of hotel nights and setting the stage for even more activity ahead.
“There’s a real strong team over there, and so it’s very promising,” he said. “Springfield, as a city, and as a region in western Massachusetts, has a lot to offer.”
For now, Barros is careful to describe his role as transitional – listening, learning and supporting staff as the board and the Healey administration chart a longer-term course. Asked whether he wants the job permanently, he deferred.
“Good question. I’m happy to serve on an interim basis,” Barros said. “The governor asked me to come in, and I’m happy to look at it and work with the board to serve in this really packed year that’s really important for our city and our country, and then figure out where it goes from there.”
Succession planning, he added, “is definitely part of that. Whether I stay or not, it’s too early to have that conversation.”
