View VideoGreat progress has been made since the City of Irving kicked off phase one of the development of the convention center and entertainment district project. A large amount of planning and development has occurred during the past 11 months, and by summer’s end, the building process should be well under way.
The convention center and entertainment district project, slated to open in fall 2010, is the first phase of a mixed-use entertainment complex on a 40-acre tract in the Las Colinas Urban Center. The development site is bound by State Highway 114 on the west, Northwest Highway on the north, Las Colinas Boulevard on the east and Fuller Drive on the south. Anchoring the site, the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas will feature:
- A column-free exhibit space of 50,000 square feet
- A 20,000-square-foot ballroom
- 20 breakout rooms, each approximately 1,000 square feet
The facility’s flexible design will allow it to serve high-end exhibitions, conventions, meetings and other events. The building’s unique architecture allows Irving to create a new niche in the marketplace. RMJM Hillier Architecture serves as the complex’s master architect, and has designed the convention center with a goal of achieving a green building certification.
Under the direction of the Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau (ICVB), the center will be managed by SMG Worldwide, a leader in facility management, marketing and development. Prior to the opening, SMG is serving as a project consultant. Other members of the development team include Austin Commercial, serving as construction manager, with Dallas-based Beck Group serving the city as its owner’s representative.
ICVB staff has begun preliminary sales and marketing efforts to fill the facility, primarily focusing on groups of 800 to 1,200 people, although the facility’s capacity could accommodate 4,000 attendees for a general session. Currently, the largest hotel ballroom in Irving is 10,000 square feet. The exhibit hall in the convention center will be five times that size, which will allow more groups to bring their meetings to Irving.
“This facility is right-sized for this market, and rightly thought out,” said Maura Allen Gast, executive director of the ICVB. “We’re letting our customers, meeting planners and local corporations know that starting November 2010, Irving will be able to accommodate much larger groups than it can now.”
Components of phase two of the project include:
- A 3,500-seat concert venue
- Restaurants
- Retail shops
- A cinema
- A privately developed hotel
Last November’s city election authorized the City Council to implement user taxes and fees to fund the concert venue. These include hotel occupancy, and ticket and parking taxes for events at the concert venue.