Gaylord Opryland Considers Expansion
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 1/8/2007
Despite reports that Gaylord Entertainment plans to double the size of its Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, a spokesman for the company would only say it is considering an expansion.
A local newspaper, the Nashville Tennessean, reported Dec. 2 that Gaylord was planning to add several hundred thousand square feet to Opryland's existing 263,772 sq. ft. of exhibit space, as well as build a new tourist attraction nearby.
Brian Abrahamson, Gaylord Entertainment executive director of corporate communications, said the company has no official announcement of an expansion — which is not to say that one can't be in the works.
"Gaylord Entertainment President, Chairman and CEO Colin Reed mentioned the possibility of expanding," Abrahamson said. During a Nov. 6, 2006, earnings conference call, Reed said that expansion offered an opportunity for growth, as the facility is now so over-booked it has to turn away customers. A 105-acre lot across from the existing hotel could be rezoned to accommodate an expansion, Abrahamson added.
Competition in Nashville may be heating up. Local officials have been pushing to build a new municipal convention center, which would compete with Opryland.
Responding to a question posed during Gaylord's earnings call, Reed said Gaylord likely would have news about further expansions over the next 12 months because the company was "operating at fairly high levels as a system" and "building an extra few hundred rooms to accommodate this demand, and some meeting space is a relatively efficient way to drive very high returns for shareholders."
Abrahamson said there was "tremendous interest and opportunity to expand" in all the markets Gaylord serves. "Our new facility in Prince Georges County, Md., is consistent with that."
