$100M Convention Center Opens

ATLANTA-The 400,000-sf, $100 million Georgia International Convention Center has officially opened near Hartsfield International Airport in suburban College Park, GA. The venture is expected to generate at least $200 million annually in payroll, taxes and spillover business to nearby hotels and retailers, according to the College Park Business and Industrial Development Authority.

John Hollis Allen, the authority’s chairman, compares the center’s presence and economic value to College Park in South Fulton County to the opening of Hartsfield in 1980. The center is the first component of Gateway Center, a planned 155-acre, mixed-use venture of hotels and offices just west of the airport.