Business groups in search of 21st century facilities, along with scenic serenity and easy geographical access to East Coast population centers, have a plethora of options in the central Virginia heartland.
Groups may meet in historic sites such as presidential homes and Civil War battlefields, then enjoy the area’s contemporary experiences for meetings that are unique and productive.
Richmond anchors the region, enveloped by Blue Ridge Mountain
vistas and rolling topography that Thomas Jefferson and his early American contemporaries loved and called home.
Richmond
Strategically located at two major highways—interstates 95 and 64—Richmond has modern-day business significance and a formidable past.
Historic shadows are long and significant in the Commonwealth’s capital city, and most Richmond visitors want to encounter at least some of them.
This was the capital of the Confederacy, so Civil War historic sites and stories about ghosts abound. At the Museum of the Confederacy, visitors find a large collection of Confederate artifacts at the Richmond Battlefield National Park, a restored ironworks factory.
The Edgar Allan Poe Museum is one of Richmond’s oldest private homes, and it contains Poe memorabilia. At St. John’s Episcopal Church on Church Hill, Patrick Henry brought the house down in 1775 with his “give me liberty or give me death” call to action that helped launch a revolution.
The Thomas Jefferson-designed Virginia Capitol recently completed a $104 million renovation and expansion that includes an underground extension for a new entrance and a visitors’ center with a museum store and cafe.
Other cultural sites include the elegant Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, a favorite group tour option and off-site event venue.
Trendy historic districts such as The Fan and Carytown offer plenty of character and restaurants and clubs that engage attendees after business.
Richmond is currently ramping up its facilities lineup, with hotels under construction downtown and elsewhere in heartland Virginia’s main business center.
“Come the first quarter of 2009, meeting planners will have a minimum of 500 committable rooms within one block of the Greater Richmond Convention Center,” says Cleo Battle, vice president of sales. “We continue to receive high marks from national conventions that select the Richmond region as their meetings setting.”
Leading Richmond’s new hotel development is the 250-room Hilton Garden Inn Richmond Downtown, set within the $80 million mixed-use project that is bringing new life to a downtown retail landmark, the Miller & Rhoads building. Completion of the hotel, which is located across the street from the convention center, is scheduled for next summer. It will complement both the center, featuring 189,000 square feet of exhibit and meeting space, and the adjacent 400-room Marriott Richmond, which has an additional 30,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
Another local hospitality icon is The Jefferson Hotel, a historic luxury site that offers 264 guest rooms and a grand ballroom that accommodates up to 600 people for events. Since 1895, the downtown hotel has been a principal Richmond gathering place for both business and social events. It’s located near the state capitol, the pulsating Shockhoe Slip district and the city’s financial district.
Charlottesville
Thomas Jefferson’s hometown is situated in the Blue Ridge Mountains, about an hour west of Richmond. Jefferson referred to his homeland as “Eden,” and it still retains great natural beauty, along with contemporary attractions and facilities.
Also home to the University of Virginia, Charlottesville is known for its proximity to wineries and small luxury lodgings like Orient Express Hotels’ Keswick Hall at Monticello, a former private residence that resembles an Italian country estate.
The university town’s lineup of meeting facilities is getting a big boost with a new meeting space at Boar’s Head Inn, according to Mark M. Shore, director and CEO of the Charlottesville/Albemarle County CVB.
“Charlottesville has clearly become a destination of choice for meeting and event planners,” Shore says. “The addition of the new meeting pavilion at Boar’s Head Inn, which already boasts a stellar reputation for hospitality and first-class service, is another crown jewel for our region.”
Doubletree Hotel Charlottesville, featuring 235 rooms and 16,000 square feet of meeting space, and Omni Charlottesville, with 208 guest rooms and 12,000 square feet of meeting space, round out the city’s portfolio of major meeting facilities.
Charlottesville’s popular off-site venues for meetings include the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard, where tastings may be paired with meetings for up to 300 people. Oakencroft Vineyard & Winery hosts groups of up to 50 people in a total of 1,500 square feet of meeting space. The Old Hardware Store Building in the city’s historic pedestrian mall downtown houses art and exhibition galleries, shops and the Hardware Store Restaurant, where guests dine amid rolling ladders and bins that date to the store’s beginnings in 1895.
Wintergreen Resort is a nearby four-season mountain property on 11,000 acres. Accommodations include condominiums and vacation homes that are surrounded by winding trails, streams and forests. Among the many recreational options available at Wintergreen are skiing, tennis, golf on 45 holes, hiking, fly-fishing, horseback riding, and mountain biking, and the property also features a spa. The resort offers 40,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space, audiovisual services and a professional conference services staff.
Lynchburg
Lynchburg is one of those destinations where visitors find small-town charm along with big-city amenities.
The city’s centerpiece group facility is the new James River Conference Center, with 15,000 square feet of space that includes two ballrooms, one boardroom, three executive suites, and five breakout rooms. Wireless Internet access throughout the center, videoconferencing capabilities and views of both the city and the peaks are among the amenities.
Mountains come with lakes, and Smith Mountain Lake, a Virginia vacation favorite, is near Lynchburg. The waterfront Mariner’s Landing Resort and Conference Center has 7,500 square feet of function space, complemented by contemporary high-tech features and banquet spaces. An executive meeting center is coming on-line, with 20,000 more square feet of exhibition and event space for up to 400 people.
Other meetings properties in the Lynchburg portfolio include the Holiday Inn Select, with 241 guest rooms and 72,000 square feet of meeting space; Lynchburg Ramada Inn, featuring 209 guest rooms and 8,000 square feet of meeting space; and Radisson Hotel Lynchburg, offering 167 guest rooms and 7,000 square feet of meeting space.
Becca Lingley, group sales manager for the Lynchburg CVB, says the city is more ready than ever to accommodate business groups.
“The Lynchburg region has been experiencing marked growth,” she says. “Coupled with the revitalization of the historic downtown district and our new and existing meeting properties, we provide facility options that are sure to meet any group’s needs.
“Planners who haven’t brought a meeting to the Lynchburg region in a while will be surprised and pleased with what they’ll find here,” Lingley adds. “We have over 1,800 guest rooms and 58,000 square feet of meeting space in our inventory.”
State associations and reunion groups find Lynchburg’s average hotel room rate of about $70 an affordable alternative to big city prices, according to Lingley.
Groups enjoy several unique venues in Lynchburg for meetings and other events.
The Pest House Medical Museum recreates the setting of a Civil War-era quarantine hospital and a 19th century doctor’s office. Groups of up to 60 can gather in 800 square feet of space.
Riverviews Artspace is a live/work venue for artists, and it includes studios and public galleries, in addition to 4,000 square feet of meeting space for groups of up to 100 people.
Situated in the rolling foothills, Stonewall Vineyards and Winery combines a modern winery with European style. Groups may tour the vineyards and taste the product, and gather for business or a banquet in 2,000 square feet of function space.
Danville
Once a center for tobacco and textile industries, Danville has a new high-tech profile, thanks to recent economic development initiatives.
For both local and visiting business groups, the city now has one of the state’s best tech-ready facilities, The Institute Conference Center at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. The center has 20,000 square feet of meeting space, including the 8,400-square-foot Great Hall. A 135-seat auditorium, plasma-screen TVs in all boardrooms and three-way conference capabilities also are among the center’s features.
Meanwhile, Stratford Inn and Conference Center has 10,000 square feet of function space and a lounge that offers live entertainment.
Danville features diverse attractions for its visitors, including Millionaire’s Row, with Victorian- and Edwardian-style residential architecture in the Old West End Historic District. Many of the historic mansions were built by tobacco and textile barons of the late 19th century.
Other historic districts in the city date to 1793. The Dan River Historic District runs along both sides of the Dan River, and it’s defined by arch bridges, an old navigation canal and original textile factories built in the 1880s.
Downtown, there’s the historic tobacco district that includes the Crossing at the Dan, a multiuse entertainment site where visitors find a farmers market, a nature trail and a train station near restaurants and shopping stops.
The Danville Science Center, the American Armored Tank Museum and the Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History are located in the circa-1857 Italian villa house best known as the Last Capitol of The Confederacy, where President Jefferson Davis resided during the final week of the Civil War.
For car racing fans, Danville is a mecca. Within a 30-minute drive of the city are tracks for NASCAR and motocross, as well as a variety of other types of racing. Virginia International Speedway, South Boston Speedway and Martinsville Speedway are among the choices.
About 30 miles east of Danville in South Boston, the 98-unit Inn at Berry Hill is another inviting option in the area. The retreat, situated within a 19th century National Historic Landmark that sits on 750-plus acres, features more than 5,000 square feet of meeting space and a variety of unique team-building activities.
For More Info
Charlottesville/Albemarle County CVB 434.293.6789
www.pursuecharlottesville.com
Danville Welcome Center 434.793.4636
www.visitdanville.com
Lynchburg Regional CVB 434.847.1811
www.discoverlynchburg.org
Richmond Metropolitan CVB 804.782.2777
www.visit.richmond.com
