Bigger, better convention center opens today 1.20.11

INDIANAPOLIS STAR

With its compact Downtown and strategically placed hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues, Indianapolis is already known for its walkability.

But when the expanded portion of the Indiana Convention Center opens today, "walkability" will take on a whole new meaning.

The $275 million, glass-trimmed addition is one of the last pieces of a vast indoor maze connecting much of Downtown Indianapolis.

Tourists and locals alike now will be able to stroll from the Artsgarden at Washington and Illinois streets clear over to Lucas Oil Stadium at South Street and Capitol Avenue -- all without dodging snowflakes or raindrops.

And once the JW Marriott opens at the Marriott Place complex next month, you'll be able to go even farther. Depending on which route you take, we're talking a walk of at least a mile.

Indianapolis will have 4,717 rooms in a dozen hotels connected via climate-controlled skywalks and tunnels -- the most of any tourism destination in the nation. Minneapolis, now ranked first with 4,654 connected rooms, will become second when the JW Marriott opens Feb. 4.

This will do wonders for Indianapolis' tourism business, officials say.

"As a cold-weather destination, being able to say we have more hotel rooms connected to our convention center than any other city in the nation is a huge selling point," said Chris Gahl, spokesman for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association. "It differentiates us from our competitors."

Long considered a "tier two" city, competing with markets such as Louisville, Ky., and Kansas City, Mo., Indianapolis now has vaulted into the "tier one" category.

So, Chicago? New York? Atlanta? San Francisco? Denver? Indianapolis can now compete with those cities in terms of attracting large trade shows and other conventions. The biggest challenge now is marketing.

For example, the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo, which is the 75th-largest trade show in the U.S., has agreed to meet here for three years starting in February 2012. That convention will generate $24 million.

Annually, tourism generates more than $3.4 billion for the city and supports about 69,000 full-time jobs, according to the visitors association. And those numbers are rising. Thanks to the expansion of the convention center, the city has been able to book 69 larger conventions over the next several years that will have an estimated economic impact of $1.3 billion.

"I think Indianapolis has an incredible package, with the quantity and quality of hotel rooms and the compactness of Downtown," said Rick Binford, president of the event management division of Ohio-based Experient, which works with convention planners. "The skywalk system specifically, the big advantage is it just extends the season . . . without concerns about weather."

In total, Indianapolis will open four new skywalks within the next year, three of them within the next month.

The first will stretch above West Street from the Marriott Place complex into the parking garage of the Indiana Government Center. The second will cross Maryland Street from the parking garage into the Indiana Convention Center.

The third skywalk is actually an upgrade of an old, uncovered walkway between the now-demolished RCA Dome and the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Louisiana Street.

And the fourth, connecting the Artsgarden to the PNC Center and the Hyatt Regency Hotel, will be the last leg of the three-pronged glass clamshell that was built more than a decade ago outside Circle Centre mall.

"It is going to happen and will be open in time for the Super Bowl," said Dave Lawrence, president and CEO of the Arts Council of Indianapolis, which owns the Artsgarden.

Indeed, officials at the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association plan to show off the skywalk system -- as well as market the other new amenities of the city -- when the city hosts the big game in February 2012. The climate-controlled passageways will surely offer a nice respite from the cold and snow.

In the meantime, locals may take an interest in the skywalks, too -- especially Indianapolis Colts fans who are looking for ways to get from their cars to Lucas Oil Stadium without literally turning blue.

Park in the underground garage at Marriott Place, jump on an elevator, and you can easily weave your way to the skywalk across West Street. Another skywalk will take you into the old section of the Indiana Convention Center and then into the new section. A tunnel under South Street and the railroad tracks will deposit you directly into Lucas Oil Stadium.

That walk is about a mile.

Other options include parking at Circle Centre mall and traversing its system of skywalks into the convention center and then into Lucas Oil Stadium.

"We're going to try it for Colts games to see if we can handle it," said Linda Addaman, director of marketing and sales for the Indiana Convention Center.

An elaborate system of skywalks will never be the main reason why a trade group would pick a city to hold its convention, Binford said. But for Indianapolis, what such a system does is eliminate a reason why a trade group would not choose the city.

Enclosed walkways already have helped Minneapolis battle its cold-weather image.

"It's always a selling point any time of year," said Kristen Montag, a spokeswoman for the Meet Minneapolis tourism association.

The only thing working against Indianapolis now is perception.

"People don't necessarily associate Indianapolis with a tier one city," Binford said. "It's only people's knowledge and perception."

Bill Mickey, executive editor of the trade publication EXPO magazine, agreed.

"At this point, it's going to be a marketing play," he said. "(Indianapolis) is going up against some pretty established brands -- and what it will take is marketing."

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