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   City of Phoenix to Move Forward with $600 Million
Civic Plaza Expansion Project;
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Downtown Facility Will Expand from 302,000 square feet to 940,000
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June 20, 2003, Phoenix - Greater Phoenix elevated itself to top-tier status in the convention market this week as the Arizona Legislature approved $300 million in funding for the expansion of the Phoenix Civic Plaza convention center. This total matched the $300 million allocation earlier approved by Phoenix voters in 2001. The $600 million project is now effectively fully funded.
 
The expansion will provide a spacious, high-tech and client-friendly facility that can be marketed to 85 percent of all conventions. The current convention center is capable of hosting just 50 percent of all conventions.

The downtown facility�s total rentable space will increase from a current total of 302,000 square feet to 940,000 square feet after the expansion. The updated facility will allow the 


Expansion will triple the size of the existing building, moving
Phoenix into the top 20 convention center sites in the nation.
Phoenix can currently host about 50% of the conventions
in the nation. With expansion, Civic Plaza could host 85%.
Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau (GPCVB) to overlap bookings into Civic Plaza, and conventions will be able to move in and out at the same time. Also, multiple conventions may take place concurrently and existing shows will have room to grow.

These benefits will equate to increased conventions and increased delegates, which will in turn lead to increased visitor spending � a tremendous benefit to Arizona hotels, restaurants and countless other tourism-related businesses throughout the state.

�We are very thankful to the Arizona Legislature for approving funding for this very important project,� said Steve Moore, President and CEO of the GPCVB. �This expansion moves us into another frontier and improves our ability to compete with other major destinations in the meetings and conventions market.�

Documented lost opportunities to bid totaled two million delegates and 3.6 million hotel room nights at a direct spending value of $2 billion over the past 12 years, pointing to a large, unmet demand.

The project will move forward in three phases. Phase I involves the construction of a new meeting facility on the Civic Plaza terrace. Phase II will entail the replacement of the Civic Plaza north building, and Phase III will involve the interior renovation on of the south Civic Plaza building.

The concept features a large, contiguous below-grade exhibition hall spanning under 3rd Street, ballroom and meeting rooms at street level, and two smaller exhibition halls on the top level. The expansion project is expected to be complete in 2008-2009.

Marketing Dollars Returned to Industry

In related visitor-industry news, the Arizona Legislature also voted to fully appropriate Proposition 302 funds to the state�s tourism industry, totaling $4.4 million dollars for 2003-04. The monies will be divided among several organizations within the industry. The legislature had cut the $4.4 million by half in its previous session. As it receives approximately one-half of this funding, the GPCVB will receive an additional total of about $1 million in its budget beginning July 1. 

The GPCVB is a non-profit organization that markets Greater Phoenix as a year-round convention and visitor destination. More than 13 million people visit Phoenix annually, contributing more than $6 billion to the area's economy. Tourism in Greater Phoenix also accounts for approximately 225,000 jobs.

Contact:

Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau
Stacy Reading
Media Relations Manager
(602) 452-6252
[email protected]
www.visitphoenix.com

Also See The Phoenix Convention Center, 60th Largest in U.S., Has $600 million Expansion Project Resurface in State Legistature / April 2003


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