The expansion of the Palm Springs Convention Center (www.palmspringscc.com) opened earlier this year in Palm Springs, Calif. The $34 million project features an almost all-new 261,000-square-foot facility, which now has 120,000 square feet of carpeted exhibit space, a 20,000-square-foot ballroom, 19 breakout rooms, and a new 18,000-square-foot lobby with panoramic mountain views. The convention center opens almost directly in front of the new $95 million Spa Resort Casino, a 228-room, full-service resort with casino, spa, and hotel amenities in downtown Palm Springs. The convention center is managed and operated by SMG. A 410-room Wyndham hotel adjoins the convention center and has more than 30,000 square feet of additional meeting space.
In December 2005, the 1,100-room, $285 million Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center (http://denverregency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels) opened in downtown. It is the largest hotel built under the Hyatt name in more than two decades. The 37-story hotel, adjacent to the Colorado Convention Center, has 60,600 square feet of meeting space, including two large ballrooms. The 30,000-square-foot Centennial Ballroom, with its 30-foot-high ceiling, can seat up to 2,500 people or be broken out for smaller events. All of the hotel's meeting space is on the third and fourth floors, providing views of the Rocky Mountains and the convention center through floor-to-ceiling windows. The hotel also features a 6,700-square-foot health club with a 50-foot indoor lap pool, a sauna, a steam room, and a sun deck.
The Westin Boston Waterfront (www.starwoodhotels.com/westin) is slated to open this June less than 3 miles from Logan International Airport. The 17-story, 790-room hotel will be connected to the new 1.6-million-square-foot Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in the Seaport District and will feature a spa, health club, and restaurant, as well as 32,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 15,000-square-foot ballroom and a 4,000-square-foot ballroom. A total of 22 meeting rooms will be available, and Wi-Fi will be installed throughout the hotel. Eighty-five percent of the guest rooms will have views of either the water or the Boston skyline, and 100,000 square feet of retail and dining outlets will be connected directly to the hotel.
Also on Boston's waterfront, the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel is under construction and scheduled to open in fall 2007. This $145 million project will feature 471 guest rooms, including 21 suites; more than 20,700 square feet of meeting space, including a 10,700-square-foot ballroom and a junior ballroom; a fitness center with lap pool, treatment rooms, and an outdoor terrace; and a business center.
Missouri-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, LLC (www.jqh.com) plans to develop three hotels and a convention center in La Vista, Neb., near Omaha. The company is scheduled to begin construction this month on an 80,000-square-foot convention center and three hotels totaling 600 guest rooms: a 260-suite Embassy Suites hotel, a 220-room Courtyard by Marriott, and a 120-room Residence Inn by Marriott. The properties, southwest of Omaha at the intersection of Interstate 80 and Interstate 680, are slated to open in fall 2007.
Rosen Shingle Creek Resort (www.shinglecreekresort.com) is on schedule for a September opening. The 1,500-room facility will be set on 230 acres, 10 minutes from Orlando International Airport. All guest rooms will feature high-speed Internet access. The resort will have 250,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 95,000-square-foot ballroom, as well as a spa and an 18-hole championship golf course, which opened in 2003.
In Sandusky, Ohio, Kalahari Resorts (www.KalahariResorts.com) is building a $12 million, 95,000-square-foot convention/event center attached to its existing 596-room, full-service resort. The convention center, scheduled to open in mid-August, will offer 60,000 square feet of flexible meeting space. The facility's total of 25 meeting rooms will include a 17,200-square-foot grand ballroom, two 3,500-square-foot junior ballrooms, 17 breakout rooms, two boardrooms, and four hospitality suites. In 2005, Kalahari opened an 80,000-square-foot indoor water park, Ohio's largest; this spring, the resort will break ground on an expansion of its outdoor water park.
The Conrad Indianapolis opened this March with 241 guest rooms (all with 42-inch flat-screen TVs and complimentary wireless Internet access) and 10,000 square feet of meeting space, which includes six meeting rooms and two boardrooms. The hotel is connected via a climate-controlled covered walk- way to the Indiana Convention Center & RCA Dome and the Circle Centre mall.
