change take
The Austin Convention Center is closing for a $1.6 billion reconstruction. The city stressed that it will remain open for event business.
Andrea Doyle
The Austin Convention Center will close on April 1, 2025, and following next year’s South by Southwest, construction will begin on a new, larger facility scheduled to reopen in 2029.
That means Austin will be without a major convention center for four years, but the hope is that the expansion will help it get the business it’s been missing out on.
Visit Austin President and CEO Tom Noonan told Skift Meetings that Austin is losing 50% of its potential customers due to a lack of space. “This new center will make us more competitive within the state and against our key domestic competitors.”
Currently, the Austin Convention Center has 376,000 square feet of space. Austin is the 11th largest city in the United States, but ranks 59th for its convention center. The plan is to double its size.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said the economy will grow by $282 million because of the larger convention center.
“We have been holding the 2032 date in Austin, and this is the news we have been waiting for. I believe this planned redevelopment will open the door for more groups to consider hosting future conferences in Austin,” Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Conference said Kirsten Olean, senior director of planning and design.
Austin Open Meetings Business
Noonan emphasized that Austin will still be hosting events during construction. “The most important thing is that we are not shutting down our conference business from ’25 to ’29. We are pushing the business in-house to hotels across the city.
“We are the first major city in the United States to do this with an entire facility. Especially in the 40 months we will be doing construction. It’s not a short period of time, but we have developed a strategy to make up for as many meetings as possible Loss of center.
The Tourism Public Improvement District (TPID) is in the process of providing funding for the project. The district is funded by a 2 percent nightly room fee levied on hotels with more than 100 rooms across the city. TPID is expected to generate approximately $390 million in revenue over 10 years.
TPID must be approved by 60% of city hotels with more than 100 beds. Austin expects to reach this threshold soon, allowing TPID to go into effect on October 1.
TPID will help offset lost revenue during the closure. When the convention center closes, Visit Austin will help groups find alternative spaces in restaurants and other locations.
