Citywide developments take destinations from gritty to glowing.
Whether they were once major hubs for manufacturing or sleepy towns with small populations, cities can be transformed by a few key investments. Revamped industrial districts, elevated public spaces and additional venues are every meeting planner’s playground and make them more likely to bring their next program to a city.
Here are five cities in the U.S. whose recent glow-ups made them major players in the meetings market.
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Indiana’s second-largest city is situated at the confluence of three rivers. Once a manufacturing hub, today Fort Wayne is a city recognized for its affordability and its high quality of life. With more than 5,500 hotel rooms, 300 restaurants, major highway access and a regional airport, it’s an increasingly appealing destination for meetings and events.
Currently, the city has several venues for large events. The Grand Wayne Convention Center is a 225,000-square-foot venue in the heart of downtown. It’s attached to three full-service hotels and comes with 50,000 square feet of exhibit space, 18 meeting rooms, and 30,000 square feet of pre-function and reception space. Another popular venue, the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, is a multiuse space frequently used for sports events, concerts and meetings. Its conference center, opened in 2015, contains more than 27,000 square feet of multipurpose space, with 20,000 additional square feet of pre-function space.
Several recent developments have added to the city’s list of offerings for meetings and events. The Pearl Street Arts Center, opened in the fall of 2024, is a bakery-turned-community-center, with a 400-seat auditorium, two classrooms and A/V-equipped spaces.
Also built in 2024, The Fairfield is a three-story venue and entertainment complex set in a historic downtown building. Its top floor is a chic venue for everything from weddings to banquets, while its second story contains a golf simulator, and the first floor is home to a restaurant and bar. Updates to the city’s riverfront district are ongoing with the creation of the Treeline District, which will revamp the north side of the river with public spaces, residential buildings and mixed-use facilities. Developers plan to break ground on the project by the close of 2025.
Erie, Pennsylvania
With a history rich in manufacturing and agriculture, Erie, Pennsylvania’s economy has received a boost from another industry that may surprise some: tourism. The town on the shores of Lake Erie was once singularly known for manufacturing, but the past 25 years have brought impressive growth, from a chic downtown to a collection of 13 vineyards and wineries in Lake Erie Wine Country.
“We’re a smaller city, nestled along the working man’s Rust Belt,” said Hannah Stancliff, director of convention sales and services at Visit Erie. “We’re right on the water, and we’ve been able to transform our Bayfront District from factories and shipping yards to a beautiful Bayfront Convention Center that overlooks the water, waterfront hotels, walkways that tourists and locals use, restaurants, and live music.”
All this growth makes it an excellent fit for business as well as leisure travel. Meeting groups especially love the combination of small-town charm with the city’s impressive amenities, from public transportation to metropolitan attractions. The Bayfront Convention Center offers more than 100,000 square feet of meeting and event space and is attached to two hotels. Other sizeable venues include the Ambassador Banquet & Conference Center, which features 35,000 square feet of meeting space and gorgeous interior design, including crystal chandeliers in the ballroom and a garden atrium with a glass ceiling. Some of Erie’s more distinct meeting venues include the Warner Theatre, a restored Art Deco theater, and the Erie Art Museum, a modern venue with more than 8,000 artifacts.
Eugene, Oregon
An outdoorsy college community in the Willamette Valley, Eugene blends the laid-back, earthy vibes of Oregon with urban renewal projects that breathe new life into the city. Meetings and events in Eugene frequently highlight the region’s rich flavors, award-winning wines and outdoor recreation. Dozens of nearby wineries and vineyards double as off-site venues, from King Estate Winery to downtown’s Oregon Wine L.A.B., and attendees in Eugene will have no trouble enjoying the area’s scenic beauty or its long list of outdoor recreational offerings.
Its extensive leisure offerings don’t mean Eugene can’t handle its meetings. The city is home to the University of Oregon, which provides many of its meeting venues, including the Matthew Knight Arena, the largest indoor venue in Eugene with 12,365 seats. The Ford Alumni Center has additional meeting space. Off campus, the Lane Events Center is a 75,000-square-foot events campus with a 36,000-square-foot arena. Eugene’s largest conference hotel is the 275-room Graduate by Hilton Eugene.
Recent developments in the city’s meeting offerings include a substantial renovation of the 259-room Valley River Inn, a conference hotel with 15,000 square feet of event space right on the Willamette River. Another hotel, the 102-room TownePlace Suites Eugene by Marriott, recently opened just outside of downtown. Several other exciting upgrades in Eugene feature the river, including the redevelopment of a 16-acre section of downtown riverfront, which is expected to become an inviting waterfront space for the community to enjoy in the coming years.
Chattanooga, Tennessee
With many recent developments and many more still underway, Chattanooga is a meeting planner’s haven in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Located in southeastern Tennessee and easily accessible from interstates 75, 24 and 59, the city of 190,000 is known for its proximity to famed outdoor attractions, including Lookout Mountain, Rock City and Ruby Falls.
“We’ve got the urban amenities but also the natural attractions,” said Lori Dodd, director of business development at Visit Chattanooga. “Attendees can be downtown in a meeting room in the morning then hang gliding off the mountain in the afternoon.”
The Chattanooga Convention Center features 185,000 square feet of meeting space. Other popular venues include The Chattanoogan Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton; the Tennessee Aquarium; the Hunter Museum of American Art; entertainment complex Southside Social; and Rock City, an outdoor venue on top of the mountain. One of the recently completed developments in the city is the Chattanooga Choo Choo, a repurposed historic train depot, complete with The Hotel Chalet, which offers rooms in restored train cars.
Some of the city’s ongoing developments include The Bend Chattanooga, a 120-acre, walkable mixed-use community running along a bend in the Tennessee River. The project broke ground in 2024. A new mixed-use stadium for the Chattanooga Lookouts is being built on South Broad Street, estimated to be complete in time for the 2026 season. It will host events for up to 800. This comes alongside other residential and outdoor spaces envisioned for the South Broad Street District.
Oklahoma City
From Bricktown to City Center, each of Oklahoma City’s districts boasts its own personality. And within each of these neighborhoods, new restaurants, attractions and community projects are constantly adding even more for attendees to enjoy.
The city’s growth has largely been fueled by its local Metropolitan Area Projects Plan, or MAPS, a local initiative that funnels funds from a voter-approved sales tax increase into citywide projects. This began in the 1990s and has yielded impressive projects like the Bricktown Canal, which transformed a warehouse district into a hugely popular entertainment spot. Other developments include a new library, a trolley system, a new baseball stadium, a 70-acre public park and many other community-wide investments.
“What we’ve seen with this public development is new private development around those areas,” said Jenna Lovelace, senior communications manager at Visit Oklahoma City. “The city has really blossomed because of the MAPS programs, and residents and visitors have seen the benefits.”
Another impressive development stemming from the MAPS program is the new downtown Oklahoma City Convention Center, completed in 2021. The 500,000-square-foot venue features more than 200,000 square feet of exhibit space and nearly 40,000 square feet of ballroom space. Its modern design boasts floor-to-ceiling windows and sleek artwork, and it’s within walking distance to popular downtown meeting hotels. Attractions like the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Myriad Botanical Gardens and Crystal Bridge Conservatory provide even more options for engaging off-site events.
In the coming years, sports venues such as the new Oklahoma City Arena and a multipurpose stadium open the door for more sporting events to come to the city, including part of the Olympic Games in summer of 2028.
