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In St. Augustine, Florida, all it takes is a sip from the Fountain of Youth to feel young again. To drop a few decades in Bloomington, Indiana, all that’s required is a walk around the downtown square of one of America’s best college towns. “We kind of jokingly say ‘Come here and feel like a college student again,’” says Shaun Ballard, convention sales manager for Visit Bloomington.
The key to Bloomington’s youthful vibe is Indiana University’s main campus and its nearly 50,000 students. They account for a substantial portion of the city’s population of 85,000, creating a tight town/gown bond.
IU’s 1,960-acre campus flows right into Bloomington’s downtown, full of restaurants, bars, live music venues, clothing stores and other local shops. Students — and everyone else — eat well, as the 150 restaurants located downtown serve up the expected burgers and pizzas at places like Hinkle’s Hamburgers and Mother Bear’s Pizza, as others whip up dishes from Tibet, Thailand, India, South Korea and many of the other 160 countries that students call home. The result — a small town with international flair that’s home to a Big 10 university — appeals not just to college students, but also meeting goers.
Convention Center Expansion is Underway
In 1991, the community cleverly turned a 1923 Model T Ford assembly plant and showroom located just off the square into Monroe Convention Center (soon to be called Bloomington Convention Center). It is a bustling place, managing some 500 events a year.
But because of its small size — 24,000 square feet on two floors — the center can’t handle groups of more than 250 people. That will change just over a year from now, in early 2027, when a $71 million expansion and renovation will more than double its space to 60,000 total square feet, allowing Bloomington to pursue conferences of 500 to 700 people.
A new convention venue is being constructed across the street with a sky bridge to connect the two buildings. The plan allows the current center to remain open as the new building is constructed.
The new structure will echo the red brick and limestone façade of the old but includes some important features that the current one lacks, like a 26,000-square-foot exhibit hall with 30-foot ceilings and an outdoor space that overlooks downtown as well as several small meeting spaces. Like the original center, the new one will be enlivened with art, much of it by local artists.
The current convention space will primarily serve as breakout rooms as it connects to the expansion’s large exhibit hall. The Bloomington Convention Center is also connected to the 117-room Courtyard by Marriott, and there are plans for a second convention hotel.
Even without it, downtown Bloomington has nice hotels, several recently renovated, within a few blocks of the convention center. The closest, a block away, is the Hyatt Place Bloomington, with 172 guest rooms. Two blocks farther up College Avenue, the Hilton Garden Inn Bloomington has 168 guest rooms. And, on the campus side of the square, the Graduate Bloomington has 149 rooms, all turned out with IU memorabilia and touches of its crimson school colors. A new boutique property, the locally owned Posh on Kirkwood, promises to be the town’s most lux property to date, opened in what was previously a downtown bank building. The 45-room hotel is “the most upscale property we have in Bloomington. It’s nothing like I have seen in Bloomington.” said Ballard.
With the convention center expansion on the horizon, and all that it likely will bring in terms of new developments, that might be a statement Ballard finds himself making quite often.
Getting There
Bloomington is about 50 miles south (1 hour) of Indianapolis, 105 miles north (2 hours) of Louisville, Kentucky, and 128 miles west (2.5 hours) of Cincinnati.
For more information on meetings in Bloomington, please contact:
Visit Bloomington
Shaun Ballard
Convention Sales Manager
O: 812-330-4304
C: 815-451-2801
