Monterey Conference Center
Monterey, California
Attached to the luxurious Portola Hotel and Spa at Monterey Bay, the 41,000-square-foot Monterey Conference Center has been bringing groups to meet on the bay for decades but hasn’t had a serious update until a $45 million renovation headed by pioneering design firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill began in November 2015.
“It’s a spectacular location, and it’s just time,” said Tammy Blount, president and CEO of the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “The building is almost 40 years old and had never had a renovation. We responded to feedback considering what our customers need to continue to be inspired to come here.”
While the new design doesn’t change the footprint of the center, it will make deep changes in the functionality of the building, allowing multiple groups to meet at once, bringing the theater up to ADA specifications and adding LEED certification, which, given the proximity to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a pioneer in the sustainable seafood movement, has been requested by groups with an environmental focus.
The visitor’s entrée into the new design will set the tone for the new aesthetic. They are greeted by a lightweight, California-cool, two-story entrance area replete with windows and balconies.
“We were looking for a building that would enable people to know they were in Monterey when inside or outside,” said Blount.
The first level of the conference center is set to open late this summer, with the full renovation wrapping up in early 2017.
www.montereyconferencecenter.org
Greater Columbus Convention Center
Columbus, Ohio
Since it first opened in 1980 as the Ohio Center, the Greater Columbus Convention Center has expanded twice to meet demand for the downtown space, and the current $125 million renovation and expansion will include both an expansion and an interior overhaul, including a redesign of the entire northern wing of the center.
The current facility, which is being upgraded in stages to allow for events to continue during the renovations, includes 1.7 million square feet of customizable space. The renovations will add LEED certification, a light-filled modern two-level atrium that can be used as pre-function space and 37,000 square feet of exhibit space, which will bring the total contiguous exhibit area up to 373,000 square feet.
While all meeting spaces will receive updates to their interiors, lighting and technological amenities in both the convention center and adjacent Hyatt Regency, the finished renovation will also feature an additional 10 meeting rooms, adding 10,000 square feet of multi-level meeting space to the center and bringing the total number of meeting rooms to 74.
The renovations are set to be completed in July 2017, and hard-hat tours of the new facilities are being given to planners interested in booking the space after its reopening. An 800-space, $18 million parking garage, with a modern design that echoes the striking convention center, has also been added to the convention center district and will be connected to the renovated convention center by a skywalk.
Harrah’s Atlantic City Waterfront Conference Center
Atlantic City, New Jersey
As a destination, Atlantic City has undergone a flurry of changes in the last decade. Often referred to as the East Coast Las Vegas, the beachfront gaming destination, recently popularized by the hit show “Boardwalk Empire,” has taken a turn for the family friendly with a new focus on festivals and outdoor concert series. But with the opening of the 100,000-square-foot Harrah’s Atlantic City Waterfront Conference Center last fall, Atlantic City has now become a prime meeting destination.
The newly expanded conference center is set up as two 50,000-square-foot ballrooms designed to be broken up and configured into as many or as few breakout spaces are needed, with 200 different possible configurations and options for up to 60 smaller meeting rooms.
“We’re hosting conventions now that we weren’t capable of bringing in before due to the size of the convention center and the fact that it’s attached to a hotel with 2,500 rooms,” says Jim Wood, president and CEO of Meet AC. “The expansion made it the largest convention center of its size between Boston and Washington, D.C. It’s driving a lot more corporate business into the market and right behind that would be associations.”
The conference center is separated from the casino’s gaming areas and located in Atlantic City’s Marina District — off the boardwalk where Caesars Entertainment’s two other properties are located — to give meeting planners easy entertainment options for evening events but a distraction-free environment during meetings.
