Convention Centers
Consulting, Planning and Design
DENVER | HONOLULU | SAN FRANCISCO | SCOTTSDALE
Overview Convention centers are places to gather, educate, entertain, and network. They are often the center point of a city or region’s tourism. The most successful convention centers offer both a great location and state-of-the-art facilities. They are more than big buildings; they are exhibition and meeting areas built to solve business needs and bring people together. Just as important as selling to meeting planners in these buildings is the need to ensure that the highest-quality of food and beverage products and services are available. This includes not only for banquet and catered events, but also for retail food and beverage sold at concession stands, cafes, food courts, and the restaurants that occupy space in these buildings. William Caruso & Associates (WC&A) understands the focus of the meeting planner and their guests. We design “user friendly�, new technology facilities within convention centers, and we continue to set the industry benchmark barometer in creativity, functionality, ease of operations and optimum guest returns.
“Food and beverage services in public assembly buildings have undergone a drastic metamorphosis over the past twenty years. Guests expect the highest quality of food and beverage served in facilities that are planned and designed for hospitality related events, whether they be ballrooms, concession facilities, clubs, or restaurants.� ~ William J. Caruso
Our Approach Convention centers are constantly in competition with each other for business. WC&A works with our clients to determine what the differentiating factors will be for each individual venue. What will set this convention center apart from the others? We strive to create an experience within the convention center. We do not view them simply as meeting or exhibition spaces, but rather as buildings with purpose and unique personalities that translate to the city or area in which the building is located. As the market segment industry leader, WC&A has completed over 160 convention centers throughout the world, a record unmatched in the consulting industry. We have been extremely successful in this area of specialty because we strive to be unique, and we continually push the design envelope in developing cutting-edge strategies and solutions to food and beverage design.
Project Highlights The Wildwood Convention Center
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
Wildwood, New Jersey
Boston, Massachusetts
WC&A was commissioned by the New Jersey Sports and Exhibition Authority to plan and design a full kitchen and catering area for The Wildwood Convention Center, a $68.3 million dollar facility. This multi-purpose facility is utilized for meetings, trade shows, civic events, concerts, and sports entertainment; providing a new economic opportunity for the region and making Wildwood a year-round tourism destination.
WC&A was commissioned by the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority to provide all foodservice planning for its 1.3 million square foot, state-of-the-art, convention center located in South Boston. The firm provided complete master planning, programming, and design, in addition to developing/negotiating the caterer foodservice contract on behalf of the Authority. The firm has worked on a number of convention center/ civic center projects for this client over the last 15 years including the Hynes Memorial Convention Center, the Springfield Convention Center Renovation & Expansion, and the Boston Convention Center & Exhibition Center.
Our Key Questions to Kick-Off a Successful Convention Center Design Project:
• What is the client’s vision? What
is the scope of food and beverage facilities now and in the future?
Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
The Province of British Columbia undertook an aggressive venture to expand its existing convention center by adding a new wing consisting of over 1.5 million square feet. This multi-purpose expansion houses exhibit halls, meeting rooms, and ballrooms to serve its intentional clientele. An exciting feature to this project is a harbor concourse that connects both the existing and new facilities. In addition to the complete design of all expansion food and beverage facilities, WC&A was hired to assist the owner in the development and coordination of a caterer contract. WC&A assisted in the development of the Request For Proposal and Sample Contract Documents for this work. WC&A also coordinated proposal meetings, reviewed written proposals, selected and scored a short listing of proposers, set the presentation format and recommended a foodservice provider for this long term contract.
• What type of venue is it (expo
center, convention and meeting, theater, banquet facilities, etc)?
• What is the seating capacity mix (banquet events, meeting room events, prefunction events)?
• What patron demographic will the venue attract?
• What type of operation is the
facility (self operation, contract management operator)?
• What are the specific food and beverage elements relative to local health department and other governing agencies?
• What are the sustainability goals
of the project (WC&A will provide good practice guidelines in preliminary stages)?
Highlight Client List Ameristar St. Charles Conference Center St. Charles, Missouri
David L. Lawrence Convention Center Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Anchorage Civic and Convention Center Anchorage, Alaska
Des Moines Convention Complex Des Moines, Iowa
Albuquerque Convention Center Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dubai Exhibition City Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Asheville Civic Center Asheville, North Carolina
Currigan Exhibition Hall Denver, Colorado
Atlantic City Convention Center Atlantic City, New Jersey
Taipei World Trade Center Taipei, Republic of China
Austin Convention Center Austin, Texas
First USA Riverfront Arts Center Wilmington, Delaware
Baltimore Convention Center Baltimore, Maryland
Florence Conference Center Florence, Alabama
Bartle Hall Kansas City, Missouri
TRAC Center Pasco, Washington
The RiverCenter Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Gateway Center Collinsville, Illinois
Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex Birmingham, Alabama
Georgia International Convention Center College Park, Georgia
Boise Convention Centre on the Green Boise, Idaho
Greater Columbus Convention Center Columbus, Ohio
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center Boston, Massachusetts
Hynes Convention Center Boston, Massachusetts
Broward County Convention Center Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Irving Convention Center Irving, Texas
Calgary Stampede Park Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Jacksonville Convention Center Jacksonville, Florida
Duke Energy Convention Center Cincinnati, Ohio
Conference Center at Lake Placid Lake Placid, New York
The Colorado Convention Center Denver, Colorado
Las Cruces Convention Center Las Cruces, New Mexico
Cobb Galleria Centre Atlanta, Georgia
Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas, Nevada
Columbus Civic Center Columbus, Georgia
Lexington Center Lexington, Kentucky
Connecticut Convention Center Hartford, Connecticut
London Convention Centre London, Ontario, Canada
American Bank Center Corpus Christi, Texas
Los Angeles Convention Center Los Angeles, California
New Bern Convention Center New Bern, North Carolina
MassMutal Center Springfield, Massachusetts
Crown Center Fayetteville, North Carolina
McAllen Convention Center McAllen, Texas
McCormick Place Chicago, Illinois
Santa Clara Convention Center Santa Clara, California
Macon Centroplex Macon, Georgia
Santa Fe Convention Center Santa Fe, New Mexico
Mayo Civic Center Rochester, Minnesota
Saratoga Springs City Center Saratoga Springs, New York
Memphis Cook Convention Center Memphis, Tennessee
Renaissnance Schaumburg Convention Center and Hotel Schaumburg, Illinois
Frontier Airlines Center Milwaukee, Wisconsin Miramar Cultural Center Miramar, Florida Mission Bay Conference Center San Francisco, California Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center Biloxi, Mississippi Moscone Center San Francisco, California Myrtle Beach Convention Center Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Nashville Convention Center Nashville, Tennessee Nashville Municipal Auditorium Nashville, Tennessee Ernest N. Morial Convention Center New Orleans, Louisiana Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center Nashville, Tennessee Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon Pennsylvania Convention Center Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Phoenix Civic Plaza Phoenix, Arizona Rhode Island Convention Center Providence, Rhode Island Roanoke Civic Center Roanoke, Virginia Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Rapid City, South Dakota San Diego Convention Center San Diego, California
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre Brisbane, Queensland, Australia St. Charles Convention Center St. Charles, Missouri St. Paul River Centre St. Paul, Minnesota Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center Tacoma, Washington Tallahassee Leon County Civic Center Tallahassee, Florida Telluride Convention and Conference Center Telluride, Colorado Tulsa Events Center Tulsa, Oklahoma Metro Toronto Convention Centre Toronto, Ontario, Canada Northwest Expo Center Tukwila, Washington Two Rivers Convention Center Grand Junction, Colorado Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Virginia Beach Convention Center Virginia Beach, Virginia Washington D.C. Convention Center Washington, D.C. Whistler Conference Centre Whistler, British Columbia Wildwood Convention Center Wildwood, New Jersey Yakima Convention Center Yakima, Washington
Contact Information: Corporate Headquarters 8055 East Tufts Avenue Suite 1320 Denver, CO 80237 P: 303.649.1600 F: 303.649.1660 Honolulu Office 1888 Kalakaua Avenue Suite C312 Honolulu, HI 96815 P: 808.447.5812 F: 808.442.3100 San Francisco Office 2950 Buskirk Avenue Suite 300 Walnut Creek, CA 94597 P: 925.407.4797 F: 925.407.4701 Scottsdale Office 7047 East Greenway Parkway Suite 250 Scottsdale, AZ 85254 P: 480.659.3888 F: 480.659.4052