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900,000-SF Convention Center Is Project Ticket for Regional Conventions

AUSTIN-The Austin Convention Center has positioned itself to lure regional conventions to its midst. A 900,000-sf project is on track and marketing offices are now open in Washington, DC and Chicago.

By Kimberly Reeves | Updated on March 04, 2001

AUSTIN-The doubling of the Austin Convention Center will trigger a leap from statewide conferences to regional conventions. The project, which had broken ground in September 1999, will add about 900,000 sf of Downtown space when it delivers in April 2002. The cost of the expansion, underwritten by an increase in the hotel-motel property tax approved by Austin voters, is set at $110 million.

“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.

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