The space frame structure was constructed from 1979 to 1986 and was named to honor Jacob Javits, the United States Senator for New York.

[12] The complex includes a: The Javits Center added 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m2) following a major expansion project which was completed in May 2021.

[17][18] Opposition to the massive residential displacement that this development project would have caused,[19] and the failure of the city to complete any replacement housing, led the State Legislature to kill the convention center proposal in 1970.

The City then moved the convention center site to the Hudson River, in place of Piers 84 and 86,[20] despite the high cost of foundations and the lack of space for future expansion.

That 44th Street convention center, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, was approved by the Board of Estimate in 1973 despite renewed opposition from the local community.

[18] As an alternative to forestall the negative impacts of both, Daniel Gutman, an environmental planner working with the Clinton Planning Council, proposed that the convention center and all major development be located south of 42nd Street.

[27] In December 1975, Trump hired Der Scutt to design a convention center on the 30th Street Yard's site.

[29] Although Trump's offer to build the Convention Center was rejected, he was paid a broker's commission by Penn Central.

[30] In March 1979, the New York State Legislature approved a plan to allocate $375 million toward the construction of the convention center near the Penn Central yard.

[31] The next month, the architectural firm I. M. Pei and Partners was selected to build the New York Convention and Exhibition Center, as it was called at that time.

Properties that previously had trouble selling suddenly had several potential buyers, spurring real estate speculation.

However, a report commissioned by the CCDC found that the center's benefits to the surrounding neighborhood would be reduced due to a lack of public transit and the predominantly industrial zoning of the area.

"[44] In December 1984, at Cuomo's suggestion, the CCDC officially renamed the New York Convention Center to honor former Senator Jacob K.

The first exhibitions to be hosted at the Javits Center were the International Fur Fair and an Art Expo of "emerging younger artists".

The jobs at the center were reserved for members of Local 807 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who were paid up to $350 a day for working on a Sunday.

However, the physical constraints on the project site imposed by the Bloomberg administration complicated the design and caused the cost to soar to $5 billion.

To address the site constraint, an alternative plan produced in 2007 by Meta Brunzema, an architect, and Daniel Gutman, an environmental planner, for the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association would have expanded the Javits Center south over the Western Rail Yard, the site of the defeated West Side Stadium.

Other features of the HKNA plan included a rooftop park, office and residential towers at the corners of the new exhibition hall, and conversion of Pier 76 to public use.

[53] In April 2008, Governor David Paterson decided to renovate the existing Javits building with a severely revised budget of $465 million.

[54] The renovation, started in 2010, was led by design team FXFOWLE Epstein, whose redesign of the Javits Center's interior focused on upgrading organization and efficiency, as well as occupant comfort.

New mechanical systems have improved the indoor air quality, reduced ambient noise, and significantly saved on energy consumption.

More Javits Center renovations are being eyed, with $15 million already going toward a new telephone system and improved Wi-Fi network in the building, as well as a truck idling area to the west and south being proposed for further expansion.

[76]In March 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, the Javits Center was adapted for use as a temporary 2,000-bed alternate care site to treat COVID-19 patients,[77][78][79] though the number of beds was later expanded to 2,910.

All of the large conventions scheduled to take place between March 2020 and mid-2021 were canceled or postponed because of Javits Center's use as a field hospital and then a vaccination site.