New D.C. Area Venue Gets Green Light
By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 10/18/2004
Gaylord Hotels will break ground early next year on a resort hotel and conference center in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, hoping to supply the area with the medium-sized exhibition facility Gaylord officials say it desperately needs.
By 2008, Natl. Harbor — dubbed the largest resort hotel and conference center on the East Coast - will open in Prince George's County, Maryland, now that protests and development roadblocks that left it on the drawing table for nearly 20 years have been removed.
As part of the larger 300-acre project, Gaylord Hotels will open the $500-million, 41-acre Gaylord Natl. Resort & Convention Center. It is slated to include a near-200,000 square foot exhibit hall, 60 breakout rooms and two ballrooms with a combined space of 80,000 sq. ft. — complete with views of the adjacent Potomac River and perhaps of D.C. monuments 10 miles away. Gaylord Natl. will have 1,500 rooms, 100 suites and a 20,000 sq. ft. spa and fitness center.
The Natl. Harbor property will include 500,000 sq. ft. of restaurants and upscale retail stores, a 2,500-seat theater, condominiums, office space and a marina.
The Washington, D.C.-based associations the facility will primarily cater to are "underserved," said Jay D. Sevigny, Gaylord Hotels' executive vice president and COO. The venue's location "will enable even the largest associations and organizations to conduct business in our nation's capital and entertain their members in spectacular fashion."
Stephanie Marshall, director of meeting services for the Washington, D.C.-based American Council on Education, said the Gaylord Natl. would help regional associations that are too small for the 725,000 sq. ft. Washington Convention Center. "My options are extremely limited to two venues currently," Marshall said. The ACE Annual Meeting will take place Feb 12–15 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. "Another large property would help me out quite a bit," she added.
In July, the Prince George's County Council approved $160 million in bonds, which will be backed by Gaylord Natl. revenues, for infrastructure requirements. Neighborhood groups had long battled the Natl. Harbor proposal and other plans for gaming properties, a hot issue in Maryland for the past two years.
Community organizer Bonnie Bick, along with the group Campaign to Reinvest in the Heart of Oxon Hill, fought the development for seven years, but changed her mind when plans for round-the-clock gambling were eliminated. Bick said she is "cautiously pleased."
J. Matthew Neitzey, executive director of the Prince George's County, Maryland Conference & Visitors Bureau, said he expects the Natl. Harbor project to generate over $750 million in tax revenues in the next 30 years.
He expects Gaylord Natl. to create its own demand and complement other area facilities. "A rising tide floats all boats," Neitzey said.
Gaylord Hotels' current properties includes the flagship Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn.; Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Kissimmee, Fla.; and Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas — all offering over 178,000 sq. feet of exhibit space.
Gaylord Entertainment reported consolidated revenues of $361 million for the first half of 2004, an increase of 64.2 percent from $219.9 million in the same period last year.
