The extensive, $97.6 million in renovations to the Charleston Civic Center -- now, officially, the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center -- will generate immediate and far-reaching rewards and results to and for the capital city, its citizenry and thousands of visitors from around the world.
That was the consensus of some area officials as the wide-scale Civic Center makeover approached completion.
From a business standpoint
Charleston City Manager David Molgaard said the project has come to fruition through extensive civic and creative vision pursued for more than a decade.
"Fifteen years ago, when Mayor [Danny] Jones first entered into office and I became city manager, we surveyed the landscape and realized that we didn't have a lot of tools in our toolbox for community development," Molgaard said. "One thing we could do is make our city attractive for visitors and really focus on the tourism aspect. When I say 'tourism,' I also mean meetings and conventions.
"We had the Charleston Civic Center, and John Robertson and his staff were doing a laudable job of making that facility work, although most communities have a separate convention center, apart from the center arena functions," the city manager said.
"Charleston is the capital of our state and a regional driver," Molgaard said. "It was -- and is -- a mecca for regional and statewide meetings. We have the three Interstates converging here, and we're within a three- or four-hour drive of a significant population of the Eastern Seaboard.
"The potential was always here for us to be able to attract regional and statewide meetings, but that job was being largely performed by our Convention and Visitors Bureau going out soliciting, tracking and booking these large events for our city. That job was difficult for them, given the facility. It was tired and needed improvements. Its curb appeal was lacking.
"There's also a symbiotic relationship between their abilities to put 'heads in beds' -- that is, put visitors in hotel rooms -- and the hotel occupancy tax, half of which supports the functions of the CVB. It's a little circular; those taxes support the CVB and then the CVB uses those funds to go out and bring more visitors."
Molgaard said meaningful notions of revamping the Civic Center began to manifest years ago.
"Our council met in June 2003 on the stage of the Clay Center and did a visioning session. One of the things asked was to envision what headlines might be 10 years from then. We have had subsequent visioning sessions, and the number one priority has always been doing something with the Civic Center," Molgaard said.
He said that the implementation of a new sales tax helped transform the progressing vision to reality.
"It wasn't until we were able to acquire home rule through the Legislature and use that as a mechanism and impetus to do a sales tax," Molgaard said. "That allowed us to basically fund the type of renovations that were necessary to make this project worthwhile and viable and an economic driver for a community."
In 2005, Molgaard said, he and City Council member Jack Harrison traveled to a Kansas City, Missouri, conference, called "If You Build It, They Will Come," which keyed on Minor League baseball parks and convention centers.
"Appalachian Power Park had opened earlier that year, so Jack and I were focused on the convention center side of things," Molgaard said. "We met some consultants out there and ultimately brought them back here to do a market study for us.
"We wanted to make sure we would right-size this facility. We didn't want to build the church just for Easter or spend the money that wouldn't produce the optimum return for us. As a result of that study, we learned that we needed to add at least a 20,000-square-foot ballroom space to the facility and at least another 5,000 square feet of meeting rooms, in addition to adding to the curb appeal," Molgaard said.
"We started studying how to do that. One of the first things that kind of got the ball rolling was an application for a TIF -- tax increment financing -- district. We went through the state Development Office and it was ultimately approved."
Through the TIFs, bonds and other avenues, Molgaard said, approximately $18 million to $20 million was raised for the Civic Center revitalization project.
"Had that been our only source," he said, "we would have not ended up with the project we have. ... The heart and soul of the financing for this project is the sales tax.
"I think it speaks a lot about our community to be creative and use the tools that are available to us through home rule and say this is a $100 million project brought home only through funds generated by the city -- no grants or federal, state or county dollars," he said. "I think it speaks well for our ability to manage this project and what it means for the city.
"I think it's fair to say had we not done this convention center expansion and renovation project, the prospects for the Charleston Town Center mall would be different today. I don't think we would have seen construction of the Courtyard by Marriott by the Elk River on Kanawha Boulevard. It's my understanding that one or two additional hotels are in the works as a result of this project."
As a tourist destination
Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Alisa Bailey also touched upon the economic -- and tourism -- potential the newly refurbished, renamed facility could realize.
"It is a huge step forward for Charleston," Bailey said, "not only because we'll be able to attract larger conventions.
"With the expansion of the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center that will double the available space, the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau is optimistic about bringing more meetings, conventions and events to the city," she said. "During the past six years, the team at CCVB has booked more than 167 thousand-room nights with an economic impact of $100 million."
Bailey said the Convention and Visitors Bureau's top markets are competitive sports, military and faith-based meetings.
"Our goal for next year is 35,000 room nights," she said, "and our strategy is to bring in meeting planners to see first-hand the new renovations.
“The expanded footprint and beautiful aesthetics will make it all the easier to convince meeting planners and sports rights holders to choose Charleston,” she said. "Not only will we be able to attract larger meetings and events, but, also, we will be able to have multiple meetings at the same time.
"Meeting planners these days are demanding state-of-the-art WiFi and an elegant setting for their banquets. The gorgeous new ballroom with pre-function space looking out on the Elk River and superior WiFi connection will give us the edge we need,” Bailey said.
By design
Adam Krason, architect and principal with ZMM Architects and Engineers on Charleston's West Side, explained that the redesign came about rather uniquely and, ultimately, with a distinctly West Virginian core.
The Odell Associates architectural group from Charlotte, North Carolina, devised the design-build concept and criteria for the Civic Center project in 2014, he said, with specifications the design-build team would have to meet.
"We had to assemble a tremendous number of people," Krayson said. "Along with ZMM Architects and Engineers, we were joined by TVS Design out of Atlanta. GAI did the site design and BBL Carlton was the designer."
Krayson said the team had three to four months to interpret the requirements, prepare a conceptual design and deliver the designs of what the new center would look like to city and Civic Center principals.
"It was a large project focused on bringing the infrastructure of the building up to modern standards," he said. "That included the water service, the mechanical and electrical systems and adding a generator to the building.
"We also had to phase these improvements so the Civic Center could remain open as they were implemented. At the end of the process, our team was selected," Krayson said.
"The design solution we came up with -- and hopefully it's evident -- is a place unique to Charleston and West Virginia," he said. "The thought was, when you drive through West Virginia, you see a lot of cut-rock faces where we have to cut through mountains. You see those broken, horizontal lines through the Clendenin Street side all the way to the Quarrier Street and to Lee Street, the faces and planes reflecting that geological and rock strata when you drive through the state.
"We used the glass boxes at the entry points as a kind of reflection of those communities," Krayson added. "Our goal was to make something authentic to Charleston.
"One thing I'm particularly proud of is the Quarrier Street entry," he said. "The initial criteria left the sawtooth concrete element that was previously there and introduce a new lobby interior that left that element. We proposed the Quarrier Street entry as the main entry for the convention center, similar to the coliseum entry. When you enter that space now, it feels like new construction, although you're really entering an area that was renovated. We changed the layout, re-oriented the stairs and opened it up. We put in accent walls. It's one of the most impressive spaces in the area. Most people would think it's new construction.
"One other really amazing space I can't wait for the public to experience," Krayson said, "is the pre-function space along the Elk River. As you go from the second level and look down on the property and onto the river, it's really an amazing view."
ZMM Architects also shares its founding year with the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center -- along with other close local ties.
"We were founded in Charleston in 1959 and have always been about a quarter-mile from the Civic Center," Krayson noted. "It's really to participate in a project like this right in our back yard.
"TVS Design has been a great partner with us; they've designed more convention centers around the world than every other architectural firm combined. Designer Justin Hughes is actually a native West Virginian, so we had a West Virginia connection all the way. Outside of TVS, the project was designed and constructed almost entirely by West Virginians."
Krayson said the new Conference and Convention Center should betoken a promising future for the Mountain State, as well.
"This provides not only a great quality of life to our citizens, but it also provides an economic benefit to the community. We were intentional about that. We wanted it to be a local design-built team. Everywhere we could, we brought local people into this project.
"There are two elements of it. It improves our quality of life, giving the community places to enjoy events it didn't have before, in a high-quality venue.
"It will also improve the economy of the valley," Krayson said. "Certainly, this is what the center needs to focus on, to bring people to Charleston -- and that brings a ton of opportunities to have people not only staying at the hotels, but going to the downtown businesses and hopefully helping the retailers at the mall. And we hope it helps visitors to change their perspective about the state of West Virginia, and that may lead to future investments in the state. I think it's a great investment to the local economy, in a way only a convention center can do it."
That was the consensus of some area officials as the wide-scale Civic Center makeover approached completion.
From a business standpoint
Charleston City Manager David Molgaard said the project has come to fruition through extensive civic and creative vision pursued for more than a decade.
"Fifteen years ago, when Mayor [Danny] Jones first entered into office and I became city manager, we surveyed the landscape and realized that we didn't have a lot of tools in our toolbox for community development," Molgaard said. "One thing we could do is make our city attractive for visitors and really focus on the tourism aspect. When I say 'tourism,' I also mean meetings and conventions.
"We had the Charleston Civic Center, and John Robertson and his staff were doing a laudable job of making that facility work, although most communities have a separate convention center, apart from the center arena functions," the city manager said.
"Charleston is the capital of our state and a regional driver," Molgaard said. "It was -- and is -- a mecca for regional and statewide meetings. We have the three Interstates converging here, and we're within a three- or four-hour drive of a significant population of the Eastern Seaboard.
"The potential was always here for us to be able to attract regional and statewide meetings, but that job was being largely performed by our Convention and Visitors Bureau going out soliciting, tracking and booking these large events for our city. That job was difficult for them, given the facility. It was tired and needed improvements. Its curb appeal was lacking.
"There's also a symbiotic relationship between their abilities to put 'heads in beds' -- that is, put visitors in hotel rooms -- and the hotel occupancy tax, half of which supports the functions of the CVB. It's a little circular; those taxes support the CVB and then the CVB uses those funds to go out and bring more visitors."
Molgaard said meaningful notions of revamping the Civic Center began to manifest years ago.
"Our council met in June 2003 on the stage of the Clay Center and did a visioning session. One of the things asked was to envision what headlines might be 10 years from then. We have had subsequent visioning sessions, and the number one priority has always been doing something with the Civic Center," Molgaard said.
He said that the implementation of a new sales tax helped transform the progressing vision to reality.
"It wasn't until we were able to acquire home rule through the Legislature and use that as a mechanism and impetus to do a sales tax," Molgaard said. "That allowed us to basically fund the type of renovations that were necessary to make this project worthwhile and viable and an economic driver for a community."
In 2005, Molgaard said, he and City Council member Jack Harrison traveled to a Kansas City, Missouri, conference, called "If You Build It, They Will Come," which keyed on Minor League baseball parks and convention centers.
"Appalachian Power Park had opened earlier that year, so Jack and I were focused on the convention center side of things," Molgaard said. "We met some consultants out there and ultimately brought them back here to do a market study for us.
"We wanted to make sure we would right-size this facility. We didn't want to build the church just for Easter or spend the money that wouldn't produce the optimum return for us. As a result of that study, we learned that we needed to add at least a 20,000-square-foot ballroom space to the facility and at least another 5,000 square feet of meeting rooms, in addition to adding to the curb appeal," Molgaard said.
"We started studying how to do that. One of the first things that kind of got the ball rolling was an application for a TIF -- tax increment financing -- district. We went through the state Development Office and it was ultimately approved."
Through the TIFs, bonds and other avenues, Molgaard said, approximately $18 million to $20 million was raised for the Civic Center revitalization project.
"Had that been our only source," he said, "we would have not ended up with the project we have. ... The heart and soul of the financing for this project is the sales tax.
"I think it speaks a lot about our community to be creative and use the tools that are available to us through home rule and say this is a $100 million project brought home only through funds generated by the city -- no grants or federal, state or county dollars," he said. "I think it speaks well for our ability to manage this project and what it means for the city.
"I think it's fair to say had we not done this convention center expansion and renovation project, the prospects for the Charleston Town Center mall would be different today. I don't think we would have seen construction of the Courtyard by Marriott by the Elk River on Kanawha Boulevard. It's my understanding that one or two additional hotels are in the works as a result of this project."
As a tourist destination
Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Alisa Bailey also touched upon the economic -- and tourism -- potential the newly refurbished, renamed facility could realize.
"It is a huge step forward for Charleston," Bailey said, "not only because we'll be able to attract larger conventions.
"With the expansion of the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center that will double the available space, the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau is optimistic about bringing more meetings, conventions and events to the city," she said. "During the past six years, the team at CCVB has booked more than 167 thousand-room nights with an economic impact of $100 million."
Bailey said the Convention and Visitors Bureau's top markets are competitive sports, military and faith-based meetings.
"Our goal for next year is 35,000 room nights," she said, "and our strategy is to bring in meeting planners to see first-hand the new renovations.
“The expanded footprint and beautiful aesthetics will make it all the easier to convince meeting planners and sports rights holders to choose Charleston,” she said. "Not only will we be able to attract larger meetings and events, but, also, we will be able to have multiple meetings at the same time.
"Meeting planners these days are demanding state-of-the-art WiFi and an elegant setting for their banquets. The gorgeous new ballroom with pre-function space looking out on the Elk River and superior WiFi connection will give us the edge we need,” Bailey said.
By design
Adam Krason, architect and principal with ZMM Architects and Engineers on Charleston's West Side, explained that the redesign came about rather uniquely and, ultimately, with a distinctly West Virginian core.
The Odell Associates architectural group from Charlotte, North Carolina, devised the design-build concept and criteria for the Civic Center project in 2014, he said, with specifications the design-build team would have to meet.
"We had to assemble a tremendous number of people," Krayson said. "Along with ZMM Architects and Engineers, we were joined by TVS Design out of Atlanta. GAI did the site design and BBL Carlton was the designer."
Krayson said the team had three to four months to interpret the requirements, prepare a conceptual design and deliver the designs of what the new center would look like to city and Civic Center principals.
"It was a large project focused on bringing the infrastructure of the building up to modern standards," he said. "That included the water service, the mechanical and electrical systems and adding a generator to the building.
"We also had to phase these improvements so the Civic Center could remain open as they were implemented. At the end of the process, our team was selected," Krayson said.
"The design solution we came up with -- and hopefully it's evident -- is a place unique to Charleston and West Virginia," he said. "The thought was, when you drive through West Virginia, you see a lot of cut-rock faces where we have to cut through mountains. You see those broken, horizontal lines through the Clendenin Street side all the way to the Quarrier Street and to Lee Street, the faces and planes reflecting that geological and rock strata when you drive through the state.
"We used the glass boxes at the entry points as a kind of reflection of those communities," Krayson added. "Our goal was to make something authentic to Charleston.
"One thing I'm particularly proud of is the Quarrier Street entry," he said. "The initial criteria left the sawtooth concrete element that was previously there and introduce a new lobby interior that left that element. We proposed the Quarrier Street entry as the main entry for the convention center, similar to the coliseum entry. When you enter that space now, it feels like new construction, although you're really entering an area that was renovated. We changed the layout, re-oriented the stairs and opened it up. We put in accent walls. It's one of the most impressive spaces in the area. Most people would think it's new construction.
"One other really amazing space I can't wait for the public to experience," Krayson said, "is the pre-function space along the Elk River. As you go from the second level and look down on the property and onto the river, it's really an amazing view."
ZMM Architects also shares its founding year with the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center -- along with other close local ties.
"We were founded in Charleston in 1959 and have always been about a quarter-mile from the Civic Center," Krayson noted. "It's really to participate in a project like this right in our back yard.
"TVS Design has been a great partner with us; they've designed more convention centers around the world than every other architectural firm combined. Designer Justin Hughes is actually a native West Virginian, so we had a West Virginia connection all the way. Outside of TVS, the project was designed and constructed almost entirely by West Virginians."
Krayson said the new Conference and Convention Center should betoken a promising future for the Mountain State, as well.
"This provides not only a great quality of life to our citizens, but it also provides an economic benefit to the community. We were intentional about that. We wanted it to be a local design-built team. Everywhere we could, we brought local people into this project.
"There are two elements of it. It improves our quality of life, giving the community places to enjoy events it didn't have before, in a high-quality venue.
"It will also improve the economy of the valley," Krayson said. "Certainly, this is what the center needs to focus on, to bring people to Charleston -- and that brings a ton of opportunities to have people not only staying at the hotels, but going to the downtown businesses and hopefully helping the retailers at the mall. And we hope it helps visitors to change their perspective about the state of West Virginia, and that may lead to future investments in the state. I think it's a great investment to the local economy, in a way only a convention center can do it."
Comments
Post a Comment