Broward County’s Board of Commissioners has approved a nearly $1 billion expansion of Fort Lauderdale’s Broward County Convention Center along with the addition of a connected a 800-room Omni headquarters hotel.
When completed in Q4 2025, the expanded center will have two adjacent buildings that offer a total of 1.2 million gross square feet of space, including a 350,000-square-foot contiguous exhibition hall, three large ballrooms, a range of new technology, and several new dining concepts. Also, right outside the doors of the new East building will be a reception-friendly waterfront plaza plus enhanced water-taxi access for travel to and from several hotels on the Intracoastal Waterway.
The expansion project involves ground-up construction of the East building, adding 525,000 gross square feet of space to the center, including a 64,500-square-foot ballroom that’s divisible by four as well as more than two dozen new breakout rooms. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls will look out on the outdoor event space as well as cruise ships moving in and out of Port Everglades. Upon completion, the expanded center will seek LEED Gold certification for environmental stewardship.
As for the new hotel next door, the Omni Fort Lauderdale will offer 120,000 square feet of meeting space of its own, along with an indoor/outdoor rooftop lounge, five other food-and-beverage outlets, an outdoor pool, and a Mokara Spa. (photos of lobby and rooftop lounges are at bottom)
The Broward County Convention Center is less than a mile from Atlantic Ocean beaches and less than three miles from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, a five-minute drive.
