Connecticut's Capital City Reinvents Itself

Although there was a time when Hartford, Conn., fell off many radar screens, a billion-plus dollar investment is changing that. The city that had lost some of its luster is now in the process of reinventing itself.

This past June, a new 540,000-square-foot convention center opened in the city, featuring a 140,000-square-foot exhibition hall; a 40,000-square-foot ballroom; and impressive views from its 115-foot glass atrium 10 stories above the Connecticut River.

The center also features a gallery of local art, donated by Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the oldest public art museum in the country. The museum is just around the corner from the new convention center and features works by Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, and O'Keefe.

Connected to the gleaming convention center is the new $81-million, 22-story Marriott Hartford Downtown with 409 rooms that opened in August. The headquarter hotel's 13,300 square feet of meeting space includes two ballrooms.

Managed by the Waterford Hotel Group, this is the first new full-service hotel built in Hartford in nearly 20 years. Features include Glo, a rooftop spa and fitness center, with heated pool, and striking views of the Connecticut River, a first-rate Italian restaurant, Vivo, and a hopping bar called Crush.

A few blocks away is the 392-room Hilton Hartford, also managed by the Waterford Hotel Group, which recently reopened as a full-service property after a $33 million renovation. The Hilton has 15,000 square feet of meeting space and restaurants.

In addition to the new convention center and connecting hotel, the city is renovating its civic center and attaching a condo high-rise. A new science center is also being built in the convention center complex, which is known as Adriaen's Landing.

The Georgia International Convention Center Attracts More Meetings Business

The Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) recently completed its second full year of operation in its new location on Camp Creek Parkway, increasing its meetings business 32 percent. Only one-quarter mile from the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, the GICC's winged and angled shapes of aluminum and glass emerge from a landscape of river birch, oaks, and magnolias. Inside, the facility features its own gallery of commissioned artwork worth more than $1 million.

The GICC encompasses 400,000 total square feet with 150,000 square feet of exhibit space and a 40,000-square-foot ballroom - Georgia's largest. Attendees can choose from 32 hotels with more than 8,500 rooms in the immediate vicinity of the GICC.

Since opening in College Park, the GICC has hosted many events spanning the spectrum of diversity. Among them were the National Bikers Roundup, with more than 50,000 attendees and the Mass of Canonical Installation for Bishop Wilton Gregory, Atlanta's newest Archbishop of the Catholic Church.

Hotel/motel taxes have risen steadily over the past year at about 10 percent and the GICC revenue increased 26 percent this year. One very important development in the Gateway Complex will be the Automated People Mover that will provide GICC with a direct link to the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which will be completed in the final quarter of 2008.

New Puerto Rico Convention Center Opens

Bursts of vibrant fireworks illuminated the Novem- ber night sky as tunes by the Puerto Rican Symphony filled the air. More than 1,000 inauguration guests gathered under the wave-shaped glass roof, dressed to impress.

The atmosphere surrounding the opening of the $415 million Puerto Rico Convention Center was a festive one: The island now has the space to welcome larger groups.

More than 200 meetings have been booked at the center through 2012. They include the Society for American Archaeology (expecting more than 3,000 attendees in the spring), and the National Guard Association of the United States, set to bring approximately 5,000 attendees to the island in August.

"Meeting in Puerto Rico will never be the same," promised Ana María Viscasillas, president & CEO, Puerto Rico Convention Bureau. "The opening of the Puerto Rico Convention Center represents a new era in our tourism history, as we now have the capacity to host large-scale meetings in one of the most modern and visually splendid facilities in the world."

With 580,000 square feet of technologically advanced space, the center is the largest and most up-to-date facility of its kind in the Caribbean. Full fiber optic broadband and wireless Internet access is available throughout the center as well as videoconferencing, satellite uplink and downlink, and simultaneous language translation.

At 39,500 square feet, the center features the largest ballroom in the Caribbean. There is also 36,400 square feet of meeting space contained in 15 separate meeting rooms on two levels, which can be divided into 28 breakout rooms.

The island boasts the only U.S. tropical rain forest, El Yunque, sprawling beaches, golf, a vibrant nightlife, historic Old San Juan, casinos, and the Bacardi Rum Distillery.

The new Web site for the center is www.prconvention.com.