Meeting News - April 7, 2008 - (Page 26)

Destination Insider: St. Louis Edited by Lori Morris lori.morris@nielsen.com New Development Lights Up St. Louis Lumiere Place opens casino and entertainment complex on riverfront waterfall, a 24-hour business center, and Italian restaurant House of Savoy—all connected via skybridge to the casino. Later this year, the hotel will unveil 8,000 sf of meeting space, including a 5,400sf ballroom, as well as a fitness center and an updated outdoor pool area. The 19-story Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, with 200 guest rooms and suites, illuminates the complex with a 650-foot ribbon of light that wraps around the edges of the building and can produce different shades and patterns for an ever-changing facade. The hotel has a 12,000-sf spa, a 5,500-sf ﬁtness center, and a ballroom that can accommodate up to 900 attendees. “Lumiere Place will not only add a dramatic presence to our already distinctive skyline, it will add a new vitality to downtown,” said St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay at the complex’s opening ceremony. “This project has generated a lot of excitement in St. Louis already and a realization in other markets that St. Louis is on the move.” Situated on Laclede’s Landing, Lumiere Place is the largest downtown development in the city’s ongoing $4.5-billion revitalization. Along with the hotels and casino, the complex offers restaurants, retail, and access to America’s Center, St. Louis’ convention center, via an underground moving walkway set to open this month. RECREATION ROUND-UP A long with major developments and infrastructure improvements, St. Louis is also adding more options for between-meetings fun for attendees and their families. • MOTO MUSEUM – The city’s newest attraction boasts an extensive collection of motorcycles—some built nearly 100 years ago—from more than 20 countries. The Four Seasons hotel at Lumiere Place is the brand’s ﬁrst property in Missouri. The $507-million Lumiere Place, which made its grand debut in December with the opening of its 75,000-sf casino, is now welcoming overnight guests to its two new hotels, the signature HoteLumiere and a Four Seasons hotel. Formerly the Embassy Suites Downtown, the essentially new HoteLumiere is the product of a $16-million renovation. The hotel features 295 guest suites, a garden atrium with a four-story Airport Gets More Functional Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is getting a $105-million upgrade in an effort to re-establish the airport as a ﬁrst-class facility and create a more user-friendly experience for travelers. Different aspects of the project, called the Airport Experience Program, will roll out over the next several years, with all parts expected to be completed by April 2012. The Airport Experience Program will modernize and revitalize the Main Terminal and its concourses, including the ticketing area, departure curb, arrival drive, baggage claim facilities, security checkpoints, restrooms, and other passenger areas. 26 MeetingNews April 7, 2008 $105-million facelift to improve facilities at LambertSt. Louis International Airport It will also add several new restaurants and retail stores, wireless Internet capabilities, and a domed glass canopy to protect travelers from the elements as they walk from the nearby parking garage or board ground transportation. In order to minimize the impact on airlines’ rates and costs, the project will be funded primarily through passenger facilities charge revenues the airlines already pay to the airport plus other equity funds. No city money will be used. The most recent major project at Lambert was the $1-billion expansion that added a new runway in 2006. r • RIVER VIEW PARK – Opening at Laclede’s Landing in June, this park will feature an outdoor amphitheater, water features, sculptures, and views of the Mississippi River. • MCKINLEY BRIDGE BIKEWAY – Spanning 3,000 feet across the Mississippi River, the region’s only suspended bikeway gives pedestrians and cyclists access to parks and trails on either side of the river. The bikeway opened in November 2007, just prior to McKinley Bridge’s reopening to vehicular trafﬁc in December, after being out of service since 2001. • FLAMINGO BOWL – This 12-lane bowling alley and martini lounge with space for private events opened on downtown’s Washington Avenue in December. • ST. LOUIS ZOO – Dinosaurus, an outdoor exhibit of 16 life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, will go on display next week through Sept. 1. The zoo also recently opened its new Zoomagination Station and Awesome Amphibians exhibit. • SIX FLAGS ST. LOUIS – This summer, the theme park will unveil the $7-million “Evel Knievel” rollercoaster, featuring high speeds, huge drops, and sharp turns. www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - April 7, 2008

Meeting News - April 7, 2008 Contents What’s Up @ MeetingNews.com Successful Meetings University Advertisers Index Live from the Forum

Meeting News - April 7, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.