"The reason we built them was because people couldn't get into the auditorium," Mara Smith, assistant to the director of the complex, tells Globest.com. "They couldn't get booking dates and everything that was booked was selling out."
In addition to the 2300-seat Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, the expansion added three other venues--a 600-seat theatre, a 1700-seat concert hall and a 170-seat "Black Box" theatre.
The arts entertainment complex operated by the Raleigh Convention Center is now known as the BTI Center for the Performing Arts. The facility is complimentary to the 139,000-sf convention center. "It really helps bring people downtown," Smith says.
The convention center and the BTI Center also offers a shuttle carrying visitors to downtown restaurants. Of the project's $39 million cost, $13 was raised by private means and the rest came from the city and other funds. The renovation took five years to complete.
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David Wilkening
David Wilkening began his long journalism career as a police reporter for Chicago-area newspapers. He became a writer-editor for major newspapers in Chicago, Washington, Detroit and Florida. He has been a business editor, political editor and travel editor for newspapers and magazines. He tried for a while to be a political operative but did better as an adjunct college professor teaching English and journalism. He is the author of several books, both ghost-written and under his own name. He is also a widely published freelance writer who currently lives in Orlando.
