Greater Columbus Convention Center
The Greater Columbus Convention Center (GCCC) is a convention center located in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, United States, along the east side of North High Street. The convention center was designed by Peter Eisenman, constructed in 1993, and expanded in 1999 and again in 2016. Venue management company ASM Global oversees day-to-day operations of the facility, including of exhibit space, three ballrooms, and 75 meeting rooms. History. Ohio Center. The convention center was conceived in 1969 as a way for the City of Columbus to generate economic revenue by hosting events and revitalize the downtown  area after a period of decline. Voters approved a $6 million bond in 1971 to purchase which was the site of the first Union Station in the world. Construction was later delayed as the city secured the land, demolished the arcade of Union Station, and changed the building's plans. The station's demolition faced criticism from agencies and the public, with little to no news of the demolition publicized until it occurred, and the demolition followed improper procedures. Funding construction remained an issue and Battelle Memorial Institute stepped in with a large donation and appointed Batelle official Clyde  Tipton Jr. to lead the project. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 3, 1978. The Ohio Center (now Batelle Hall) opened in September 1980 with 700,000 square feet spread over five stories with 60,000 square feet of open exhibit space, 30,000 square feet of balcony area. Almost immediately, issues were found in the use and amount of space and city officials began plans for a second convention center. Committees to study the use of the building and propose recommendations were formed in 1985 and 1987 but voters rejected both proposals. Eisenman addition, 1989. In 1989, a final suvey and  proposal were completed that voters approved. The plan called for a hotel-motel tax to fund the $80 million dollar building that included a 300,000-square-foot exhibit hall. Architects of the building, Peter Eisenman and Richard Trott, were selected through an international design competition. Other entries in the competition included Acock Schlegel Architects, Michael Graves, John E. Foster and Associates and Holt Hinshaw Pfau Jones, and Homer Tritt Associates and Arup. Eisenman's design was seen as exciting to the jury and reminiscent of the railroad tracks the building was to be built on. Its avant-garde design  of the building was also intended as a lure for conventions and trade shows and anchor the revitializing Short North neighborhood. When the 580,000-square-foot building opened in March 1993, it cost $94 million. On Saturday, March 13, 1993, the building was dedicated and opened to the public. Its opening coincided with its first show, the Columbus International Auto Show. In 1996, the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority took ownership of the Ohio Center to streamline operations and planning between the center and GCCC. Expansions and renovations. In 1999, a $77 million expansion began. The 250,000 square  feet expansion to the building was completed in 2001 at the cost of $85 million. More parking was created along with a renovations of amenities and the south building. Early January 9, 2008, a 1930s-era water main broke and flooded the entire length of the Main Hall. Officials from the Columbus Division of Fire were concerned that part of the building, including the main hall, might collapse due to structural failure. It was soon determined, however, that the building was not in any danger. The SMG-managed Greater Columbus Convention Center reopened for business as usual the morning  after successfully restoring the north facility to regular conditions in the aftermath of a 16-inch water-main rupture at Swan and High Streets. Water from the break traveled under the building and surfaced within the facility. Once structural engineers inspected the facility and deemed it structurally sound, water removal and restoration efforts began, which involved 150 people, 600 carpet blowers and 75 water extractors. Damage within the facility was aesthetic in nature, requiring primarily the replacement of carpeting and drywall in some areas. The restoration company received a national award for the work performed, which included challenging indoor concrete  pours at the site where crews needed to remove the concrete and dig underground to locate the actual point where the water line broke. In 2014, plans to renovate the building for a cost of $125 million began to take shape. Renovations included the interior of the building, expansion, and total redesign of the north end of the center. The renovations were completed in July 2017. Convention area lodging. In 2008, Experience Columbus, the convention and visitors bureau, began to recognize that the city was at a competitive disadvantage due to the lack of hotel rooms which put the  city at danger of losing new and old business at GCCC. In 2010, ground was broken for the publicly financed, 532-room Hilton Columbus Downtown to help meet the growing demand for events at the convention center. It opened in 2012 and underwent a $125 million renovation in 2015. In 2016, Columbus bid on hosting Democratic and Republican National Conventions, loosing both. In 2017, Experience Columbus commissioned a "Hotel and Development Study" and found the city has fewer hotel rooms within a 10-minute walk of the convetion center than other locations. The survey recommended the expansion of the  Hyatt Regency or the Hilton Columbus Downtown to meet the need of a 1,000-room hotel for convention-center area lodging, estimating $22.5 million a year in direct spending. In 2018, the city announced the expansion of the Hilton Columbus Downtown which would add 468 rooms for a total of 1,000 rooms. Design. Architects of the building, Peter Eisenman and Richard Trott, were selected through an international design competition. Dan Graveline, an expert on convention centers, consulted on the project by creating the GCCC functional diagram to which the design was created. The building was Eisenman's first civic  commission and his second commission in Columbus (the first being the Wexner Center for the Arts). The large exhibition space is the feature of the building with meeting rooms coming off its side. The simple plan, color-coding sections of the building and carpeting aided by wayfinding help guest to easily navigate the building. The facade of the building along a three-block stretch of High Street alternates masonry and glass cladding and is broken up in 11 segments. The interior concourse has a zigzagging path that breaks up its length and creates the illusion of height through skylights, overhead  footbridges and suspended ceilings.Executive Director of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, Claire S. Hazucha, felt that the building's nontraditional design would be a selling point. Owned and developed by the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, the GCCC embarked on a full-scale exterior and interior renovation in 2015 that was completed in 2017. As part of the expansion nearly 37,000 square feet of exhibit space and 10,000 square feet of two-level meeting space was added. The venue currently has 447,000 square feet of exhibit space, 75 meeting rooms and 114,000 square feet of ballroom space, including  74,000-square-foot Battelle Grand, known as the largest multipurpose ballroom in Ohio. The Union Station Ballroom measures 25,000 square feet, while the Short North Ballroom offers 15,000 square feet of space. The four contiguous exhibit halls encompass 373,000 square feet.