By Kerri Zerlin — Tradeshow Week, 9/15/2008
Autumn is almost officially here, and with it comes cooler weather, a presidential election and – during the next six months – the grand openings of 15 new, expanded or renovated venues.

According to the soon-to-be-released 2008 Tradeshow Week Major Exhibit Hall Directory, September is the busiest month of them all, with eight convention centers and hotels opening, or re-opening, their doors.

Phoenix awaits the late-December completion of the Phoenix Convention Center expansion, which will bring its total exhibit space to 690,000 square feet, from its previous 250,000 sq. ft. Convention Center Director Jay Green said groups have been booking space through 2025.

“Convention planners want to come to Arizona, but, because of the limited size of the former Phoenix Civic Plaza, were unable to do so,” Green said. “By nearly tripling the size of the former facility, the new Phoenix Convention Center will be one of the top 20 convention centers in North America in terms of size, and will be able to host more than 80 percent of convention business.”

The largest newly constructed center to open in the United States, with 150,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, is the Raleigh (N.C.) Convention Center (see related story on Page 1). But Expo at Mundo Imperial in Acapulco, Mexico, is even larger. Its grand opening is scheduled for next month with 244,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space and another 113,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.

“Mundo Imperial is bringing to Acapulco new business for all the hotels,” said Antonio Vera, director of sales and marketing for the venue, which cost more than $340 million. “Most of the expos and conventions … that we will be having in the next couple of years will be coming from the domestic market, from Mexico.” He added that, though flights from the United States are not as numerous as he would like, the situation is improving, and the Mundo Imperial staff is promoting the venue to U.S. association and tradeshow organizers.

Smaller destinations are stepping up with larger venues as well. Daytona Beach, Fla., opened its Ocean Center Convention Hall this month, after a $76 million expansion took the center from 225,491 sq. ft. to 452,491 sq. ft. Although the expansion is complete, the existing building will now undergo a renovation, scheduled for completion by the year’s end, according to Dave Byron, community services director with the Volusia County government, owner and operator of Ocean Center.

He added that the venue expected to receive its certificate of occupancy within days, and already has begun booking shows, including the Florida Fire Chiefs’ Assn.’s Fire-Rescue East, which expects its 2009 show to use more than 130,000 sq. ft., have between 250 and 300 exhibitors and attract about 9,000 attendees, according to Jim Wile, executive director of the FFCA.

Byron said marketing of the facility has been underway for 18 to 24 months, and bookings have been fairly strong for the next year.

“Because of our much greater capacity,” Byron said, “we’re very optimistic that we’ll be able to go … at least into the second-tier convention market in Florida and, in some cases, even the first.”

The Rhode Island Convention Center Complex renovation also was completed in September, with the ribbon-cutting ceremony taking place Sept. 5. The $80 million renovation, according to Tim Muldoon, general manager of the Rhode Island Convention Center, included an over-the-street walkway that connects the convention center to the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, a sports arena. Muldoon added The Westin Providence, which is connected to the convention center, added 200 rooms, giving it a total of more than 560 rooms and making it a bona fide headquarter hotel.

“Right now we have the ability to go after a little different market set as far as our convention business,” Muldoon said. “It makes the joining of the Dunkin’ Donuts Center … and the convention center all the more important, because we’re going to need that space for general sessions that are of a larger size than what we could have handled.”

The center’s renovation already helped the complex book new shows, including the 2009 GovEnergy Workshop & Exposition. The show, last held at the Phoenix Convention Center in August, will have a 50,000 sq. ft. show floor, about 200 exhibitors and a total attendance of approximately 2,500, according to the U.S Dept. of Energy, the show’s organizer along with four other government agencies.

Other new venues opening between now and the end of January:

Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska, October, 86,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space
Jackson Convention Complex in Jackson, Miss., January, 60,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space
South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton, British Columbia, September, 45,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space.