Convention center for downtown Ann Arbor?

[DetroitMan]

This seems like this may be an interesting proposal. But with Cobo Hall, Rock Financial Place and a possible covention center planned for the Metro Airport area, could a convention center in A2 be viable?

http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/ind....xml&coll=2

[RustTown]

I've always wondered how much its proximity and historical connection to Metro Detroit has shapped the development of Ann Arbors downtown. I've always figured it was too tied and close to Metro Detroit to warrant things like downtown convention center, not to mention the university takes over a lot of responsibilities of the city. This is why a place like Lansing doesn't have a major downtown theater, because Michigan State University adopted that role. It always seemed to me that the university and Detroit also contributed to Ann Arbor from developing a 'traditional' downtown where major amenities were centered. Is this a true assumption in any way?

[DetroitMan]

An update on the plans for a convention center.

http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/20...e_center_i.html

[RustTown]

Interesting update, and it answers my question. We're talking about a relatively large conference center, not some full-scale convention center:

"This is not going to be Cobo Hall or McCormick Place - we're not going to do car shows or boat shows," Bernstein said.

I think it would be great for Ann Arbor to have this kind of amenity. Ann Arbor is maturing to the point where it should have these kind of independent amenities. A 60,000-square-foot conference center sounds doable. As the article states, the largest current non-university center in Washtenaw County is only about 9,000 square feet. Plus, this would also come with a new 400-room hotel.

I was really kind of surprised to see how small the Lansing Center here in Lansing is. We've been trying to get it expanded for years, but the regional leadership just doesn't want to make the committment.