Meeting News - November 19, 2007 - (Page 40)

Destination Insider: Ohio Edited by William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com Cleveland Taps Negotiator In Convention Center Plan High-proﬁle attorney Fred Nance to head talks with medical mart producer Cleveland ofﬁcials have brought aboard powerful attorney Fred Nance to help lead the city’s negotiations with Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. for a medical mart and new convention center. “The advantages of Fred Nance are obvious,” Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan told the Plain Dealer newspaper. Nance had a hand in bringing back the NFL’s Cleveland Browns several years ago and keeping the federal Defense Finance and Accounting Service and its 1,100 jobs in Cleveland. He replaces former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro as lead negotiator. Also, county ofﬁcials have dissolved the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Convention Facilities Authority, a group created in 2004 to develop the new convention center and medical mart. It was slowly phased out as plans with MMPI progressed. The medical mart is a full-time showroom of medical equipment, to be run by MMPI. City ofﬁcials expect to attract major medical conventions with the medical mart, and concluded that the old convention center was no longer adequate. A site and the size and other features of the convention center should be determined by year end, according to Samantha Fryberger, spokeswoman for Positively Cleveland, the city’s recently renamed convention and visitors bureau. The medical mart is expected to be ready in a few years, and the convention center should be completed by 2011, she said. “A state-of-the-art convention center and medical mart would be transformational to the region’s hospitality industry,” said Dennis Roche, president of Positively Cleveland. “It capitalizes on our strength in medical, with our university hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic, while expanding opportunities to serve large conventions of all types.” —Sari Krieger ed upscale product like Crowne Plaza to provide a comprehensive meetings package,” said Gina LaBarre, vice president of brand management. “We’re expanding in Columbus and Toledo, [which] have heavy concentrations of high-proﬁle corporate entities, and in markets like Cincinnati, which has the perfect combination of corporate, leisure, and higher-education demand,” she added. renovation this summer. The hotel expects to renovate its 27,000 sf of meeting space in 2008, including four ballrooms and 20 meeting rooms. —Phillip Hennessey High Tide in Cincinnati Water’s the theme of three venues For teambuilding and social outings with groups that are not afraid to get wet, opening this month is the CoCo Key Water Resort, connected to the 257-room Sheraton Cincinnati North Hotel. The 50,000-sf indoor water park will include everything from loopy slides to group rooms. “CoCo Key joins the list of many activities visitors can enjoy in Greater Cincinnati,” said Linda Atnus, president of Cincinnati’s Regional Tourism Network. For groups that prefer creatures do the swimming, the Newport Aquarium opened a 6,000-sf ballroom in September called Currents. It will offer river views of the Cincinnati skyline for 240 sitdown dinner guests and 350 for receptions. “We will accommodate daytime meetings and evening events in a way that we could never do before,” said Newport’s sales director, Julie Clayton. Aside from the new ballroom, additional event space is available throughout the aquarium. Total seating capacity is approximately 700 attendees. Meanwhile, the Savannah Center, opening in December, is going to utilize water innovatively. The 42,000-sf conference center will be heated and cooled using a geothermal system installed in the property’s lake to promote energy conservation. The center will sit on 12 acres, including the fouracre lake, 20 miles north of Cincinnati and will be capable of accommodating 1,200 meeting guests. H —Phillip Hennessey Cleveland’s Crowne Plaza City Centre will make meeting space upgrades in 2008. There are now seven Crowne Plazas in Ohio, including two new conversions this year: the 200room Cincinnati Blue Ash, with 13,000 sf of meeting space, and the 300-room Columbus North, with 19,500 sf of meeting space. Two more conversions will open in early 2008. Crowne Plaza Cleveland Airport Hotel, a 237-room property 3.5 miles from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, is undergoing a $3-million guest room and lobby renovation. Meeting facilities will include two amphitheatres, 19 meeting rooms, an executive boardroom, and a 7,000-sf ballroom. The 241-room Crowne Plaza Toledo will be finished with its conversion from a Wyndham in the ﬁrst quarter to offer 18,600 sf of meeting space. Meanwhile, Cleveland’s 472-room Crowne Plaza City Centre completed a $1.5-million guest room Newport Aquarium’s Currents ballroom boasts a panoramic river view of Cincinnati. Crowne Plaza Tackles Ohio Market In Style Cleveland rocks for Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, but it is taking on the state of Ohio as a whole to deliver ideal properties to meeting planners. “There are many markets in Ohio that have need40 MeetingNews November 19, 2007 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - November 19, 2007

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