Rendering of the exterior of the new Albany (N.Y.) Capital Convention Center.
The hospitality industry in Albany, N.Y., is breaking out champagne glasses to celebrate the opening of the city’s new convention center. A ribbon-cutting ceremony takes place March 1.
The new Albany Capital Center has been years in the making and to see it come to fruition is an exciting accomplishment for those close to the project.
“I’m excited to say the least,” said Doug McClaine, general manager of the center.
The $78-million convention center will have all the bells and whistles of a new structure, including programmable LED lighting that can be configured for any new events.
Rendering of the interior of Albany (N.Y.) Capital Convention Center.
It also will have a 22,000-sq.-ft. ballroom, 13,500 sq. ft. of pre-function space and 9,200 square feet of meeting space across six rooms.
SMG will manage the convention center and catering services will be provided by Mazzone Hospitality.
Perhaps the most dynamic aspect of the opening of the Albany Capital Center is the fact that it completes a much bigger project.
The convention center is a part of the Capital Complex, which is a conglomeration of four venues, that all are connected via heated walkways in downtown Albany.
The four venues make up a total of 150,000 sq. ft. of space and is the largest complex of its kind in upstate New York, McClaine said, highlighting that the complex is within walking distance of restaurants, hotels, shops, art galleries, night clubs and museums.
“They really put a lot of thought into this facility,” McClaine said. “It’s truly a multipurpose space.”
The ballroom has 26-ft. ceilings — a design that makes it possible to turn the room into basketball or volleyball courts, or it could just be used for dinner space. Additionally, the design, the bandwidth, is top of the line and the audio-visual system has 4K standards.
The goal was to make sure the building’s structure and components to be relevant beyond 2017, McClaine said.
“We can brand any event into anything you want with our LED lighting,” he added.
The convention center is being paid for and operated by the Albany Convention Authority, which gets its funding from the state. The Albany Capital Center was approved by the New York legislature and governor.
“We’ve had a sales team in place for a year, selling the space,” McClaine said.
Its neighboring Times Union Center — Albany’s big arena — is in the process of getting a $29-million facelift that’s been broken into two phases, with the first one being the completion of a new atrium with waterfalls and LED light displays in April, said Bob Belber, SMG regional general manager.
The arena seats up to 15,000 people at sporting events and up to 17,000 for other events.
Albany County owns the arena and a lodging tax collected through the county and state is paying for both the arena and the convention center.
“The economic impact to the area is going to be outstanding,” Belber said.
On March 1, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will commence the ribbon-cutting and release the economic impact figures, Belber said.
Last December, it was announced that the American Hockey League team, the Devils, are leaving Albany and relocating to Binghamton due to declining attendance.
“At one time, the hockey team had 6,300 attendees per game,” Belber said, highlighting that in recent years, that figure had dropped to around 3,000 or so per game. “I understand the reasons the Devils had to make a move to Binghamton.”
He sees the move as a positive in terms of a profit verses loss standpoint, as the arena was losing roughly $200,000 a year having the Devils play at the arena. All the while, Belber would have to turn away weekend business 85 percent of the time since the hockey team was playing.
The arena will now book the weekends with concerts and family shows, which is projected to help the arena profit roughly $500,000 a year.
“From the profit and loss side of it, the client is going to be much better off financially,” Belber said.
The new convention center and the renovations at Times Union Center will literally shine bright from all the changes, he noted.
On the outside atrium of the arena, two 15-foot-high LED video boards will play music videos and other entertainment for passersby, giving downtown Albany a “Times Square” feel, Belber said.
The weekend of March 4, the convention center also will have a basketball tournament, a craft beer fest and a mac and cheese fest.