Like the 1,084 glass panes shaping its exterior, all the pieces for the new convention center are falling into place.Eighty conventions are booked so far, worth about $129 million, twice the amount projected in June 2009. Jobs are also expected to double from 1,200 to 2,400.As bright as the financial figures looked, the management team was even more dazzled by the glittering structure made up of 1,084 glass triangles, each cut on a slightly different angle, each weighing 700 pounds.The management team congratulated the design team on their creativity and guts in going with the free-floating glazing system that will make the center look like a futuristic, low-slung soap bubble.The construction manager traveled with the team to the museum to see whether the free-floating glazing system would work. How would it hold up to the winters? What about leakage and condensation? He was skeptical, but he had to admit, it looked gorgeous."Everybody was wowed by the architecture."Now, he says, "I'm feeling pretty confident about it."Each piece of glass is two-ply, like most exterior glass. The caulking is key in keeping it watertight.Two sets of diffusers will blow along the glass and the floors will be heated around the perimeter to prevent condensation and other problems.At 90-feet high and more than 270-feet long, it will be one of the largest curved glass wall.The seven-story facility will accommodate up to 6,000 delegates in a building of 200,000 square feet. The 25-year-old congress center had 70,000 square feet. When it came down in 2008, only 15 conventions were booked for the coming years."Eighty conventions is going to have a huge impact on our city," The 80 conventions should result in tax revenues of more than $130 million "and it's only going to get better," he said."It's an answer to the skeptics" who worried that a bigger conference center would be a white elephant.MCIPE Constructors & Professional Engineers, the project's general contractor, will be the center's first client, holding its national annual meeting in the facility when it opens in April.Pricing will depend on the services: A wedding with a sit-down dinner for 1,000 in the fourth-floor ballroom might cost $75 a plate; a February booksellers' meeting in one of the 24 rooms on the first level would likely be calculated according to the space used and the time of year.The new convention center is still in the "boutique" leagues; Chicago has a convention center with 2.6 million square feet.But this new building will be a good fit with the city's hotel capacity. Anything bigger, and delegates would have trouble finding rooms.
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80 conventions, worth $129M, booked for new center
MCIPE Constructors & Professional Engineers - http://www.mcipe.com
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