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Rocky mountain high for Denver meeting market
Denver’s 2.2 million square foot Colorado Convention Center is the region’s largest meeting space and was recently expanded in time for the Democratic National Convention next year, which will give the area another boost up in its meetings market.
“We had 13% growth year-over-year from 2005 to 2006, and tourism is now the second-largest industry in the state,” said Angela Berardino, senior communications manager at the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The Denver Convention Center has 554,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space and about 7,300 hotel rooms within walking distance.
The Ritz-Carlton opening next month will add another 202 rooms and 13,000 square feet of meeting space.
One of the city’s newcomers is The Curtis Hotel, a 336-room luxury property with 19,000 square feet of meeting space.
The venerable Brown Palace is undergoing an $8 million renovation to update 241 guest rooms set for completion next summer.
The city’s downtown, known as LoDo, is also thriving. The highly walkable neighborhood of 23-square blocks has more than 100 historic buildings. A free shuttle bus takes visitors through the pedestrian-only area that includes restaurants and bars.
“Because it’s an actual neighborhood people live in, it’s a lot cleaner and friendlier and you don’t feel awkward about waking about there at night,” said Ms Berardino.
The LoDo area is on the edge of Coors Field, where baseball’s major league Colorado Rockies play, which is only a short walk from the convention center.
Report by David Wilkening
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