"The last two years we've probably turned away as much business we we've booked," Robert Hodge, Austin Convention Center manager, tells GlobeSt.com. "We feel confident that we'll be able to use this new space. Right now the Texas state association market is a big part of our business. We'd like to move into the big regional market and even the small national market for conventions. Even some state associations are too large for our existing building." The convention center has added marketing offices in Washington, DC and Chicago to bait larger conventions and conferences, he says.

Gilbane Building Co. is the manager for the two-block expansion. A non-weight bearing wall on the north end of the current convention center will be removed and the convention center exhibition hall will be doubled to nearly 250,000 sf. The second ballroom to be added will be the largest in the state of Texas, Hodges says. Five new halls also have been incorporated into the design. The architect on the project is Page Southerland Page Collaborative Venture. SAE/Spaw Glass is the general contractor.

With the expansion, the boundaries of the Austin Convention Center will be East Cesar Chavez, Red River, Trinity and East Fourth. A second convention parking garage--with an extra 600 spaces--is important to the project, Hodge says, but not as important as the convention hotel. The 800-room hotel, which has still yet to break ground, is a partnership between the city of Austin and Landmark Organization.