On July 13, 2010, groundbreaking took place for the new Hilton Columbus Downtown, in Columbus, Ohio. It is a joint venture of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority and Hilton Worldwide. The convention headquarters hotel will be located across from the SMG-managed Greater Columbus Convention Center and near Nationwide Arena. The $140 million, full-service convention hotel is expected to open in fall 2012 with 532 guest rooms and suites, and 22,800 square feet of meeting space, including a 12,000-square-foot ballroom. The hotel will feature a 160-seat, full-service restaurant; a 100-seat lounge; a specialty coffee outlet; and a lobby featuring a large atrium with skylights. The Greater Columbus Convention Center’s 900-vehicle parking garage adjacent to the hotel will service the property. In addition, the hotel will be certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design as well as Green Seal–certified.

“The addition of the 532-room Hilton Columbus Downtown, combined with the existing amenities of the Greater Columbus Convention Center, will enable our city to compete as a convention destination for more than 900 national trade shows, conventions, and meetings in our target convention market,” said Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority Board Chairman John S. Christie.

“With the addition of the Hilton Columbus Downtown to the Destination Columbus sell, we are able to offer multiple downtown headquarter-hotel opportunities to more than one convention or trade show at a time, as well as host larger national conventions and trade shows within the 1.7-million-square-foot Greater Columbus Convention Center,” said Paul Astleford, president and CEO, Experience Columbus. “This new property significantly strengthens the Destination Columbus product offering in the global market.”

One of the first conventions to take advantage of the enhanced Destination Columbus package is the Southern Baptist Convention, which announced at the groundbreaking that they have chosen Columbus to host their June 14-17, 2015, meeting. The convention is expected to draw 16,000 attendees, bringing in 19,530 room nights and an estimated $6.2 million in visitor spending to Central Ohio.

“The Southern Baptist Convention is excited to be holding its annual meeting in Columbus in 2015 in the beautiful Greater Columbus Convention Center,” said Don Magee, associate vice president of finance for the Southern Baptist Convention. “Without the additional rooms provided by the building of the Hilton Columbus Downtown, we would not have been able to consider meeting here.”