"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.

More than three million visitors have used the Austin Convention Center since it opened Downtown in 1992. Hodge pegs the occupancy for the Austin Convention Center at between 75% and 80%, which he says is a healthy showing given the high number of weekends in Austin when University of Texas football games and high school state tournaments limit the booking for out-of-town events.

Legislative sessions--when state associations gather to discuss and launch their agendas--is the busiest time for the Austin Convention Center. Hodge estimates the convention center could probably do double the business with state associations. That makes plans for two ballrooms and double the exhibit space particularly attractive to the city. Recent conventions such as Semicon Southwest and the Government Technology Conference have used the entire center with recent conferences.

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

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