Savannah Convention Center expansion almost paid for. What you need to know about funding.
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The Savannah Convention Center expansion remains a work in progress. The money to finish the project, though, continues to flow.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s 2024 budget proposal includes $8 million for furniture, fixtures and equipment for the larger exhibition hall. According to Mark V. Smith, chair of the Savannah-Georgia Convention Center Authority, the allocation would put the project within $2 million of being fully funded, and he is "optimistic" the Georgia General Assembly will add that amount during the appropriations process during the recently opened legislative session.
The General Assembly works with the governor's office to refine and adopt the final budget.
The expansion will double the size of the facility and make it among the 75 largest convention centers in North America. Officials broke ground on the project in 2021. The opening is scheduled for January 2024 with the Southeast Regional Fruit & Vegetable Conference.
"We anticipate being substantially complete in December of this year and look forward to hosting our first convention using the entire building in January 2024," Smith said via email.
Read it:Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's proposed budget
The expected 2024 budget allocation marks the sixth time in the last eight years the Savannah Convention Center has received funding for the expansion. The majority of the construction funding - $263 million - was included in the last three state budgets.
The state contributed $9.3 million toward a study and design for the expansion in the late-2010s.
The expansion will double the exhibit hall space to 200,000 square feet, add a 58-foot-wide glass hangar door, construct a 40,000 square-foot ballroom and add 15 additional meeting rooms and a 900-space on-site parking garage.
More:Savannah Convention Center expansion update for 2023
A larger convention center has been a priority of the Savannah business community for much of the last decade. The city’s profile with visitors grew significantly coming out of the 2007-2009 recession, and convention business followed. Tourism officials began to hear calls for a larger facility in the mid-2010s, including from existing convention clients - a 2018 report cited that more than 50 regular customers had said they were outgrowing the Savannah Convention Center’s footprint.
Kemp and leaders in the Georgia General Assembly agreed to support the facility expansion in 2019 and continued to fund the project - through state-backed bonds - even in the midst of the COVID-19 expansion.
The $8 million to outfit the expanded convention center re-affirms the state’s commitment, said Visit Savannah President Joe Marinelli. More than 30 conventions have already booked events in anticipation of the larger space.
“The commitment that Gov. Kemp has made to funding the expansion of the Savannah Convention Center is already showing a strong return on investment,” Marinelli said. “The expanded space is already allowing us to attract new and larger conventions but also gives our current customers the room to expand and grow.”
About Savannah Convention Center
A Georgia World Congress Center Authority-managed facility, the Savannah Convention Center features 330,000 square feet of meeting space for meetings, trade shows, and special events.
About the Savannah-Georgia Convention Center Authority
The Savannah-Georgia Convention Center Authority is an instrument of the state of Georgia established in 2019 by the Georgia General Assembly and appointed by Governor Brian P. Kemp and the Chatham County legislative delegation. The Savannah-Georgia Convention Center Authority is responsible for overseeing the operations and construction projects at the Savannah Convention Center. The current members include: Mark Smith (chairman), Joseph Marinelli (vice chairman), Bert Brantley (secretary-treasurer), Ruth Quattlebaum Edwards, Patrick Farrell, Martin Miller, Benjamin Polote Jr., Anne Scheer, Pritpal Singh, Trip Tollison, and Ansley Williams.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Convention Center expansion funding $8 million from Gov. Kemp
