Despite objections, the Metropolitan Development Commission agreed to provide $600,000 in city funds to help build an enclosed pedestrian walkway connecting the downtown PNC Center with the Indianapolis Artsgarden.
Officials for Crowne Plaza Hotel downtown said a $400,000 enclosed connector linking the hotel to the convention center will be done in February.
It doesn’t open until Feb. 4, but downtown’s JW Marriott hotel has already booked 100,000 room nights for 2011—more than any other local hotel—an achievement drawing both praise and concern from others in the hospitality industry.
The Pump & Cleaner Environmental Expo will be held in Indianapolis each year in February from 2012 to 2014. It is expected to attract more than 12,000 visitors annually and generate an estimated $24 million in spending over the three-year stretch.
Indianapolis will host the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives’ annual meeting in July 2015, expected to attract more than 1,500 visitors and generate more than $2 million in visitor spending.
Including debt obligations, the CIB’s total budget for 2011 is expected to be $104.4 million. The City-County Council is set
to receive the budget at its Sept. 20 meeting and could approve it Oct. 25.
Vice President Joe Biden discussed the drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq during an address to a gathering of about 5,500
war veterans from across the country.
About 30,000 people are expected to attend the Drum Corps International World Championships over the next three days at Lucas
Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Gen Con Indy runs Thursday through Sunday at the Indiana Convention Center. It’s in its 42nd year.
Indianapolis and Kansas City, a metro area with feet in both Missouri and Kansas, are not only similar demographically, but
the cities' convention and tourism trades have some measures in common, like number of annual visitors.
An agreement with the International Motorsports Industry Show will keep it in the city indefinitely. Attendance for the three-day
December convention is expected to top 20,000.
The victims from three shootings Saturday night in a downtown crowded with visitors for Indiana Black Expo were reported to
be in good condition on Sunday. Eight were shot in the initial round of gunfire near Circle Centre mall.
The three simultaneous gatherings are expected to draw about 600 scientists and researchers from some 30 countries to the
West Lafayette campus from July 12-15.
The four-day events in 2014 and 2019 are expected to draw about 7,000 attendees each and fill a total of more than 20,000
room nights, likely ranking among the city’s 25 largest conventions each year.
Jamfest Cheer Super Nationals will be held in Indianapolis through 2015. The competition is one of the city’s largest annual
gatherings, attracting about 20,000 cheerleaders and spectators.
The project will create an event-friendly corridor from the expanded Indiana Convention Center to Conseco Fieldhouse.
Hotel occupancy rates in the last two years have plunged nationally and locally to levels not seen in decades, putting a number
of hotels at or near the financial breaking point. But relief finally appears to be on the way.
Designers of a walkway that connects the buildings are making the experience as attractive as possible in order to overcome
the psychological barrier of moving from one building to another.
Attracting the meeting is a coup for Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association officials who are trying to pull in
more health-related events.
Executives of Gen Con, one of the city's largest conventions, visited Indianapolis last week to get their first glance
of the construction of the Indiana Convention Center expansion. Local tourism officials are using such tours to market the
larger space.
