What Can Columbus Do To Compete?

With 426,000 square feet of exhibit space available, the Greater Columbus (Ohio) Convention Center can accommodate a pretty big show. It's when the show ends and participants head back to the hotel that the largest city in Ohio has problems: There may not be enough hotel rooms for them to go to.

According to Experience Columbus, the city's convention and visitors bureau, there are 1,661 hotel rooms within a mile of the convention center – and only 2,500 committable rooms in a 10-block area. The dearth of rooms has made it difficult for the GCCC to compete with neighboring cities of approximately the same size.

Indianapolis has 5,290 hotel rooms within a 1.5-mile radius of its convention center, according to the Indiana Convention Center & RCA Dome Web site (with more to open in the next three years for a total of 8,000); Pittsburgh has more than 3,000 rooms within seven blocks of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, according to the Visit Pittsburgh Web site.

A new convention center hotel is on the wish list of every Experience Columbus and convention center official, but plans remain vague. A site across the street from the convention center (the 39th largest in the United States, according to the Tradeshow Week Major Exhibit Hall Directory) has been selected and the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, which owns both the land and the convention center, has been charged with coming up with a development plan, said Craig Liston, regional general manager for the GCCC. However, there is not a projected date for a groundbreaking, let alone completion.

Beth Ervin, director of communications for Experience Columbus, said the proposal calls for a 550-room, full-service convention headquarters hotel.

“Right now, they're still working on the financing for (the plans),” Liston said. “They're working with the city and the county to try and get their support as far as ... issuing the bonds to finance the hotel.”

Liston said the FCCFA is in talks with the city to provide the financial backing to get municipal bonds, but the funding to repay the bonds has not been identified.

“The funding ... would come from other revenue streams, like the hotel revenue, ... incremental taxes – things like that,” Liston said. “It wouldn't come from the city's general fund. We would just be using the city's bonding capacity to issue the bonds.”

The need for a new hotel grows daily as the convention center has been unable to book some groups because of the lack of hotel rooms.

“I know (with) the American Legion it was an issue,” Liston said, referring to one of several groups that have moved their meetings to other cities because they have outgrown the room availability in the area.

According to TSW research, Columbus' largest show last year was the Ohio Florists' Assn. Short Course with 151,516 net sq. ft. and 9,679 attendees and exhibitors.

Ervin said that, though it has not yet seen major cancellations, Experience Columbus has been limited in the number of groups it can accommodate at the center. She said the shortage in rooms has affected the shows it has booked by increasing the need for transportation services between the convention center and hotels some distance away. Nevertheless, Ervin was optimistic.

“We have a convention center that will accommodate more business,” she said. “So, we see this as an opportunity to expand.”

Hotels currently located near the convention center include the 631-room Hyatt Regency, as well as the 377-room Crown Plaza, the 180-room Drury Inn, the 179-room Hampton Inn & Suites and a Red Roof Inn. Other lodging is available, but blocks away.

“We have a number of airport properties, and we have properties in the Ohio State University area,” Ervin said. “They're pretty convenient, too. Not too far away.”