The plan was approved at an Aug. 13 special meeting.

McCusker said the renovations are important because “it’s the only shot we’re going to have to have any kind of convention business, to have any kinds of sports facility” in downtown. Previous efforts to build another downtown arena were nixed because of costs.

“We’re kind of stuck with the one we got, so let’s make it … a desirable place to go,” McCusker said, adding that the improvements “should pay dividends well into the future.”

The Tucson Convention Center hosted more than 550,000 attendees at 436 events last year, including sporting events, concerts and conventions, officials said. There are no projections of what those numbers could reach post-renovations, but the planned improvements could increase convention revenue by “100 percent,” Rio Nuevo previously said in a news release.

The center hosts about half-a-dozen true conventions a year, with upward of 150,000 attendees, according to Brent DeRaad, president and CEO of Visit Tucson, the city’s tourism wing.