Atlanta is hoping that a dramatic addition to the Omni Hotel at CNN Center, coupled with some neighborhood face-lifting and new attractions, will put a charge into its downtown meeting trade. With the November opening of its 600-room, 28-story North Tower — combined with the original 15-story, 467-room Omni, which opened in the mid-1970s — the hotel offers 1,067 guest rooms and 120,000 square feet of meeting space.

The next step in the area's redevelopment will be a reconstructed plaza for the adjacent Georgia World Congress Center next spring. The $4 million project will create a plaza between the hotel, the Congress Center, and Centennial Olympic Park.