Ohio's newest convention hotel, the Hilton Columbus Downtown in Columbus, Ohio, has reached an important construction milestone: On Oct. 18, representatives from the city and county joined leaders from Hilton Worldwide in celebrating the "topping out" of the $140 million property, which is scheduled to open in fall 2012.
"Today marks an important milestone in the long-standing relationship between Hilton and the City of Columbus," said the hotel's general manager, Christian Coffin. "We are honored that Hilton was selected as the hotel partner for this project to provide additional rooms to help meet the city's growing demand for convention business at the state, regional and national level."
The Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority broke ground on the new convention center hotel in July 2010. Upon completion, it will have 532 guest rooms, 48 suites and 22,800 square feet of meeting space, including a 12,000-square-foot ballroom. Amenities will include a 160-seat full-service restaurant, a 100-seat lounge, a specialty coffee outlet and an executive lounge. In addition, the new property will be LEED- and Green Seal-certified.
"We are working to make Columbus a best-in-class destination for national conventions and events, and this hotel is a cornerstone to attract millions of new visitors each year to enjoy our restaurants, shopping, arts and sports," said Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman. "Visitor spending has a major local impact and I cannot wait to welcome all that new business when these doors open during our bicentennial in 2012."
Added County Commissioner Marilyn Brown, "Given the size and scope of the new Hilton Columbus Downtown, we truly can step up to a new level of competition for events, conventions, sports and trade shows. This industry represents some 60,000 jobs in Franklin County and this is just the sort of new economic development that we want to keep growing for our future."
As Successful Meetings reported last summer, several groups already have booked conventions based on the availability of additional rooms at the new hotel. Among them: The Southern Baptist Convention, which will host its 2015 annual meeting in Columbus, drawing 16,000 attendees and $6.2 million in visitor spending to central Ohio.
"With the addition of the Hilton Columbus Downtown, Columbus can now offer multiple downtown-headquarter hotel opportunities to more than one convention or trade show at a time, as well as meet the needs of our existing annual business that continues to grow each year," said Bill Jennison, executive director of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority. "The additional rooms and meeting space the Hilton Columbus Downtown brings significantly strengthens our product offering in the global market, allowing us to host larger national conventions and trade shows within the 1.7 million-square-foot Greater Columbus Convention Center."