City convention officials are gearing up for a big financial ask of the Indiana General Assembly next year as they set out on a $120 million expansion of the Indiana Convention Center at Pan Am Plaza.
Hospitality industry observers say this is far from an ideal time for Kite—a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in shopping centers—to veer outside its core business and tackle what would be a risky and colossal project that easily could cost more than $600 million.
The highly interactive and sophisticated Blue Room at this year’s National FFA Convention & Expo knocked the socks off thousands of students at the Indiana Convention Center. The initiative to highlight the advances in agricultural technology will continue year-round online.
The Capital Improvement Board has selected a Kite Realty Group plan from among three proposals in its effort to expand the city’s convention capacity. The CIB is expected to vote Friday to move the project forward.
Since its first iteration opened in 1972, it’s undergone four major expansions. The last one, completed in 2011, increased its size to six city blocks and more than 566,600 square feet of exhibit space—or 745,210, if you include nearby Lucas Oil Stadium.
Whether Seattle-based Gen Con and local officials can now reach an understanding on technology could spell the difference between Indianapolis’ hanging onto its most prized convention and potentially losing it to another city.
A study commissioned by Visit Indy says officials are counting on a new downtown mega-hotel to generate nearly half its own business without relying on conventions.
The number of tourism and hospitality jobs in Indianapolis also grew—from 77,800 in 2015 to 80,600 in 2016, according to the report.
City and hospitality officials have started laying the groundwork to accommodate demand for rooms booked for conventions and other big events by Visit Indy.
Officials announced early this month that four-day badges are sold out for the first time in the event’s history—which dates back to 1968.
Gen Con this year plans to use more than 750,000 square feet in the Indiana Convention Center, Lucas Oil Stadium and in the connector between the two facilities. It’s the most space ever booked for an Indianapolis convention.
In the last two weeks of the year, Visit Indy signed deals to bring 41 conventions to Indianapolis in the next five years. Those deals helped push the group close to a new annual record for advance bookings of hotel rooms.
The number of hotel rooms Visit Indy booked into future years took a tumble in 2016 to the lowest level since 2013. But local tourism and hotel officials aren’t overly concerned.
The short-term extension allows the city to keep one of its largest conventions, with an estimated economic impact of $70 million, for at least another year.
After initially seeking a five-year extension that would keep the massive gaming convention in Indianapolis through 2025, Gen Con officials have changed their request.
Visit Indy CEO Leonard Hoops told Capital Improvement Board members that standing pat is not an option when it comes to hospitality infrastructure, but a major expansion wouldn’t be needed in the near future.
The annual report of the city’s Capital Improvement Board shows the number of events at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium—and the total attendance for those events—fell sharply from 2014 to 2015.
Gen Con is the biggest and highest-profile convention to use both the stadium and convention center since the 2011 expansion—and others are watching to see how it works.
Only 1 percent of the events booked over the last year at the Indiana Convention Center asked for gender-neutral bathrooms, but hospitality experts say it’s a big and growing issue.
The inaugural outing of Indy PopCon, in 2014, generated about 9,000 turnstile spins. Last year’s event had 24,000.
