By late 2011, construction on a $127 million arena will be completed Downtown, and Evansville isn’t the only city pushing forward with a major civic project.
Indianapolis, Nashville, and Louisville continue progress on multimillion-dollar convention centers despite the economic recession.
Here, we highlight other cities’ work and tell why their projects couldn’t wait.
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City
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Project
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Why It Couldn’t Wait
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| Louisville | The $238 million, 22,000-seat arena, the KFC YUM! Center, opens in October 2010. | “Freedom Hall is 54 years old, so (there’s) clearly a need for a new arena in Louisville to replace Freedom Hall,” says Jim Wood, president and CEO of the Greater Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau. “It’s what corporations are looking for in terms of client entertainment purposes as well. Building it downtown helps add energy to our city.” |
| Nashville | The $585 million Nashville Music City Center, a 1.2 million-square-foot facility, is expected to open in 2013. The new music center more than doubles the amount of meeting and exhibit space in the city’s downtown district. | “Tourism is the number one industry in Nashville, employing more than 55,000 people, and the Music City Center will help to support the local economy,” says Heather Middleton, director of public relations for Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau. |
| Indianapolis | Research showed Indianapolis was passing on nearly 150 major conventions a year due to lack of spacing. The $275 million expansion of the Indiana Convention Center, expected to open in 2011, gives the state capital enough room to become the 16th largest convention center in the country (up from 32nd). | “This deliberate expansion was done only after completing a survey showing demand for growth,” says Chris Gahl, spokesman for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, “and we already are seeing positive results by retaining current business that was on the verge of outgrowing Indy and the ability to attract new conventions.” |
