Raleigh CC to Host Events
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 6/4/2007
Raleigh's new downtown convention center won't lack bookings once it opens in summer 2008.
According to Martin Armes, director of communications and marketing for the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau, the center has booked five international, 11 national or regional and 55 state conventions and conferences through 2018. Three examples follow:
- World Burn Congress in 2008, an international conference with 1.405 hotel nights
- American Chamber of Commerce Executives in 2009, a national convention with 3,240 hotel nights
- World Conference of the Intl. Assn. of Science Parks in 2009, the first time in its 22-year history that IASP will hold an independent, international conference in the United States
Armes said nine state organizations had committed to holding conventions at the new center for multiple years, including the North Carolina Assn. for Educational Communications and Technology, which committed for five years and the North Carolina Reading Assn. for eight years.
The $221.9 million convention center will feature a 150,000 square foot exhibit hall, 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and a 32,000 sq. ft. grand ballroom.
In front of the convention center, there will be a public plaza with an adjoining 400-room Marriott hotel. A 355-room Sheraton hotel also will be nearby.
