NEW YORK, NY February 03, 2006 —State officials are sharply questioning the new design for an expanded Javits Center. WNYC's Andrea Bernstein reports.

The original idea for the expanded Javits Center was that it would be attached to the west side stadium. But that wasscuttled and now, construction costs are skyrocketing. That's left a plan that backs away from promises to put the Javits Center in the top tier of convention centers. In hearings yesterday, Deputy MAyor Daniel Doctoroff supported the new design.

Would we love to have it be more? absolutely, would we love to have two million square feet of exhibition space, no question about it. But you do have to realize that we are dealing with some very very significant constraints.

But Assemblymember Richard Brodsky, who convened the hearings, said officials in charge of the Javits center had not done enough to explore alternatives. He expressed fears that the new project would be a "white elephant." He compared it to the old Javits center, which was outdated from the time it was built.