Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center

[Spartan]

Thanks for sharing that. I still like the street side cafe setting better.

[waccamatt]

Thanks for sharing that. I still like the street side cafe setting better.

I agree; they need to have some outdoor seating.

[TheSuperPope]

This is just a simple question I couldn't seem to find the answer to. Is the hotel going to be across the street in the same block as the Damon's. Or is it going to be located in a different block?

[Spartan]

I believe its the same block, but in front of Damon's. They have cleared a large area on Park St at Senate where this will go.

[waccamatt]

The hotel will face Senate Street just east of Damons. The parking garage will be on the Pendleton Street side of the block and Damons will remain where it is.

[803metlife]

I read in the state paper today that a Ruth Chris franchise will be in Columiba, Myrtle Beach and Charleston. The Ruth Chris in Columbia is scheduled to open 2007. This is great news for all those steak lovers out there!!

[waccamatt]

Ruth's Chris is awesome. We could use a Morton's too.

[krazeeboi]

Two rusted, mangled pieces of steel from the ruins of the World Trade Center will be featured in a memorial at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. Organizers hope to have the memorial open by Sept. 11, the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York that killed nearly 3,000 people. But first, they must raise $175,000 by August to buy 60 tons of granite. The memorial will feature two 25-foot granite representations of the two towers, engraved with the name of every Midlands soldier, police officer, firefighter and emergency medical service worker who died while on duty since Sept. 11, 2001. The steel beams will connect the two pillars and cross in the middle.

Most of the work for the memorial is being done for free, including donations by L-J Inc., Gregory Electric, Sun Printing, Pine Press Printing and the Tyler Ryan Group. The major cost is for the granite and landscaping around the memorial.

[krazeeboi]

I just wanted to quote this excerpt from the original article (which was posted prior to the point the rules were tightened regarding posting copyrighted material).

I understand the intentions of marketing the new convention center within the state--a lot of the revenue generated in Greenville, Charleston, and Myrtle Beach, which hosts its fair share of intrastate conferences, could have easily come to Columbia had they built a convention center some time ago.

However, I believe it's high time Columbia started thinking at least on a regional level. In some areas, Columbia will not be able to compete against Charleston and Myrtle Beach, which are very popular tourist destinations, and as such, offer amenities that Columbia cannot. However, when compared with its peer cities in the South--Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham, Augusta, Mobile, Jackson, Knoxville, Baton Rouge, Lexington (KY), etc.--Columbia has just as much, if not more, to offer and should actually market itself to groups that have assembled or plan to assemble in such places. I think this goes back to the thread "Your thoughts on Columbia?" in which we criticized the city for not being more aggressive in marketing itself.

What do you guys think?

It took some time, but it looks like this is happening as the convention center gains national and international gatherings of note: http://www.thestate.com/2012/08/29/2416603/convention-center-gaining-more.html

[growingup15]

This is Crazy D: wasn't there a plan awhile back to expand the convention Center?

 

http://www.thestate.com/news/business/article91482647.html

[krazeeboi]

On 7/23/2016 at 7:46 PM, growingup15 said:

This is Crazy D: wasn't there a plan awhile back to expand the convention Center?

 

http://www.thestate.com/news/business/article91482647.html

There have never been any hard plans in place.

I'm glad the convention center has the land available for expansion, but I always thought the Hilton was too small to serve as an anchor hotel and it always irked me that it's not actually connected to the convention center. The ball was dropped on that one IMO.