Gwinnett Center in Atlanta is on the verge of an expansion that will more than double its exhibit space and add a full-service, high-end hotel to the Sugarloaf Parkway complex.
“The expansion would allow the complex’s convention center — near capacity at peak periods of the year — to compete for a host of larger meetings and conventions,” said the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
“It’s not a do-or-die situation,” said Preston Williams, general manager of the complex, which also includes the 702-seat performing arts center and 13,000-seat arena. “If we never added another stick to this place, we’ll continue to do well. But if we moved to that next plateau, we could go after the midsized shows, where the lion’s share of business is.”
He added:
“Gwinnett Center has become, in my opinion and in the opinion of a lot of other people, the center of the county’s business community,” he said. “It’s where the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) are, and businesses are developing along the Sugarloaf-Satellite corridor. “
The Gwinnett CVB’s board, which oversees the county-owned complex, recently reviewed conceptual drawings from the Atlanta-based Rosser International Inc. architectural firm to get an idea of what an expansion might look like.
“From when Gwinnett Center first opened in the early 1990s to today, the county’s population has doubled [to more than 700,000 people], and there are tremendous demands on the facility,” said Richard Tucker, incoming board chairman.
Report by David Wilkening
