The idea of a conference center in downtown Lawrence is a couple of steps closer to being debated by the Lawrence City Commission.

City officials have received a consultant’s report that found demand for a conference center exists in the city, and the board for the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau on Monday recommended that the city further study the idea.

“There is still a lot of math to be done on the idea, but it could be a real positive for the community,” said Mike Logan, chairman of the CVB advisory board.

(Full disclosure: Owners of The World Company — which publishes the Journal-World — have proposed redeveloping downtown property owned by the company into a conference center, hotel and mixed-use project.)

A new report funded by the city and by Kansas University started to provide some figures for a convention center idea. Among the findings by the firm Convention Sports & Leisure are:

• “Unmet market demand exists to support new convention/conference center development.” The report estimates that Lawrence could support 30,000 to 37,500 square feet of new conference center space. More specifically, the space should include a 20,000- to 25,000-square-foot multipurpose room with 30-foot ceilings that could support exhibitions and other types of large events. It also should include 10,000 to 12,500 square feet of meeting room space.

• A full-service hotel with at least 150 rooms should be attached to the conference center. In addition, a parking garage of at least 650 spaces would be required.

• A location on Massachusetts Street is preferred by event planners over a facility that would be located on or near the KU campus. The report’s authors said event planners they interviewed were unanimous in support of a downtown location. “The concentrated visitor amenity infrastructure on Massachusetts Street is the designation’s strongest appeal to non-local groups,” according to the report.

• Another study is required to determine how much a conference center would cost to build and operate. The study, though, does forecast that a 30,000- to 37,500-square-foot conference center probably would have to receive some level of public subsidy. If a project were to move ahead with only private financing, the project might have to be reduced to 23,000 to 27,000 square feet.

“What would the city really have to invest to make this project work? That’s a key question,” said Megan Gilliland, the interim director for the group that oversees the CVB. “It will require some assistance because if it didn’t require it, I think the development community already would have built it.”

The report did not provide any information about how many events a conference center could feasibly host, or how much additional visitor spending it would create. Members of the CVB board said they hope a phase II of the study would provide more of those details. The board agreed to send a recommendation to the City Commission to fund a Phase II study — ideally in partnership with KU or another entity — at cost not to exceed $30,000.

The board approved the recommendation on a 5-1 vote. Derek Felch, board member and general manager for the Hampton Inn, voted against the recommendation. He said he was concerned about whether there was enough demand in the Lawrence market for another large hotel.

“How does a property like that impact existing hotels on days when a conference or an event isn’t in town?” Felch said.

City commissioners are scheduled to review a copy of the conference center report at a 3 p.m. study session this afternoon at City Hall.