Successful Meetings - May 2010 - 55

CINCINNATI > STRONG TO THE CORE

STRONG TO THE CORE
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Photos: Cincinnaticvb.com

f you haven’t seen Cincinnati in the last two years, you haven’t seen Cincinnati. That is the basic pitch that Dan Lincoln, president and CEO of Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau, makes to the meeting and convention planners he is trying to woo to the Queen of the West. “In the last three to four years, there have been huge developments,” Lincoln says. “Fountain Square,

which is a European-style plaza in the city center, was completely redone to make it more conducive to getting people downtown, and that has spawned a new neighborhood. There are 43 new restaurants and nightclubs within two blocks of it. And right behind it is the arts district around the Aronoff Center for the Arts. Even the locals will tell you it’s a whole new downtown.” That development also spawned a pair of new

hotels that are under construction within a few blocks of Fountain Square. There is also a massive riverfront development, which is bringing a new park and shopping district to downtown. And a 300,000-sf casino will open in 2012. The key point for planners is that Fountain Square is two blocks east of the newly renovated convention center. “In a lot of markets, the hotels are at the edges of

DEVELOPMENT BREATHES NEW LIFE INTO CINCINNATI’S DOWNTOWN AND THE CONVENTION CENTER’S DOORSTEP
By Leo Jakobson

SuccessfulMeetings.com I May 2010 I SM I

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - May 2010

Successful Meetings - May 2010
Contents
Editor's Letter
Senate Passes FAA Reauthorization
Education
Meetings Law
Incentive Insights
Visionaries
Guilt-Free Pleasure
A Million Dollar Handoff
Show Me the Results
Places + Spaces
India
Indianapolis
Detroit
Cincinnati
Britain
London

Successful Meetings - May 2010