Change is as much a buzzword for Atlanta these days as it is in America’s political arena. The city is home to a growing list of new top-tier museums, performance art spaces, restaurants, hotels, and meeting facilities.
“There has been a change in the destination over the past couple of years in terms of the way we’re attracting groups and how they are traveling,” says Lauren Jarrell, director of communications for the Atlanta CVB. “They come a day early and stay a day late, and more families are coming along. It’s a great opportunity to reintroduce Atlanta to a lot of clients who haven’t been in 10 or 15 years. We’re on their radar screen again.”
Many of the biggest changes have occurred downtown, in the area surrounding the convention center, starting in 2005 when the Georgia Aquarium debuted. The aquarium turned the immediate walking area into a destination in itself, according to Jarrell. The World of Coca-Cola museum relocated to be near the aquarium and restaurants are following suit, with 32 new eateries in the downtown area either open or in the works.
By 2010 the Civil and Human Rights Center is slated to debut. The interactive center will spotlight the local struggle for African-American freedom and equality. Groups will be able to use the center’s meeting and performance space as well. Historical landmarks such as the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, Sweet Auburn Historic District and Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site are located in the surrounding area of the center.
As the downtown area changes, so do the promotion tactics for the Atlanta CVB.
“Traditionally we’ve focused on our standard assets—our airport being one of most accessible, the number of hotel rooms, which is 12,000 within walking distance of the convention center and 90,000 altogether,” Jarrell says. “We’ve been known as a great business center for a long time, but now we also have a lot of fun things to do.”
Downtown Atlanta is also home to the 6.2 million-square-foot AmericasMart, the city’s trade complex, which later this year will open a new 70,000-square-foot meeting and event space. The Georgia World Congress Center, one of the country’s five largest convention centers, also draws groups, as do the adjacent Georgia Dome and Philips Arena.
“As a destination, our biggest news is diversification of our hotel product,” Jarrell says, referring mainly to the number of boutique hotels opening and the number on the horizon. “We have always been known as a city with great diversification. Now we have a lot of new unique concepts and more on the luxury side.”
New additions in Midtown this year include the 466-room W Hotel Midtown, featuring Georgia’s first Bliss Spa. Opening this fall will be the 40-story Peachtree Street twin towers, phase one of the new $450 million 12th & Midtown mixed-use center. Slated to open in 2010, the 414-room Loews Atlanta Hotel will be the centerpiece of 12th & Midtown. On the horizon in Midtown, a 230-room Palomar Hotel will open in 2009, and a Mandarin Oriental Hotel is slated to open in 2010 with 200 rooms, 70 residences and a three-story spa.
Midtown is also home to the pedestrian-friendly Atlantic Station, a retail, restaurant and entertainment center developed on the site of a 140-acre former steel mill, as well as the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, with 21,000 square feet of meeting space.
In the downtown area, the 237-room W Hotel Downtown, slated to open in December, will be the next addition to the Allen Plaza mixed-use development, which will feature more than 500 luxury hotel rooms. Also in December, Atlanta’s second Hotel Indigo is slated to open downtown in the historic Carnegie building. Meanwhile, a 270-room Hard Rock Hotel, scheduled to open in late 2010, will be the focal point of a contemporary mixed-use development near the Georgia Aquarium downtown. The Hilton Garden Inn opened near the Georgia Aquarium in March, adding 242 rooms to the market.
Also downtown, the Atlanta Marriott Marquis is undergoing a $138 million renovation set for completion in July, adding 40,000 square feet of meeting space, seven new restaurants and bars, a spa, and a fitness center.
Atlanta’s renowned Buckhead area is a destination unto itself, with some 8,000 hotel rooms. Buckhead holds court as Atlanta’s entertainment district, with more than 100 restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
Luxury hotels include The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead; JW Marriott Hotel Buckhead, Westin Buckhead Atlanta, and InterContinental Buckhead. Recently opened is The Mansion, an upscale hotel with 127 rooms, a 15,000-square-foot spa and celebrity-chef Tom Colicchio’s Craft restaurant, which will debut this fall.
Upcoming meetings-friendly properties include the 291-room W Hotel Buckhead, opening in October; the 150-room St. Regis Hotel, Atlanta, opening next year; and 1 Hotel, opening in 2010 in The Streets of Buckhead mixed-use district. 1 Hotel will be a two-tower structure with a spa in the middle. One tower will have 175 hotel rooms topped by 48 condos; the other tower will house 50 condos.
Another new development in Buckhead will be the Stratford. Scheduled to open later this year, phase one of the project will include shops and condos. Phase two, slated for completion in 2009, will feature a 300-room Hilton and 190 condos. The last phase will consist of 300 condos.
Surrounding Areas
There are as many enticing options for groups around Atlanta as in the city itself.
Ten miles south of downtown, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is in the midst of a $5.4 billion expansion that will include the opening of an international terminal by 2011. The airport is surrounded by more than 30 hotels, several offering meeting space.
The area also boasts the 400,000-square-foot Georgia International Convention Center, where two hotels are in the works: a 400-room Marriott and a 150-room Springhill Suites, both slated for completion in 2010.
South of the airport in Peachtree City is the Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree, offering 54,000 square feet of meeting space, and the Wyndham Peachtree Hotel and Conference Center, with 33,000 square feet of meeting space.
Meanwhile, 40 minutes north of Atlanta, Chateau Elan Winery & Resort at Braselton features a 272-room inn, a spa, 63 holes of golf, and 25,000 square feet of meeting space.
Also north of the metro area, Lake Lanier, set in the Blue Ridge foothills, is a 1,100-acre recreational area popular with boaters and jet-skiers. Meetings-friendly properties include the 216-room Emerald Pointe Resort & Conference Center, with golf and 21,000 square feet of meeting space, and the 254-room Renaissance PineIsle Resort and Golf Club, with 22,000 square feet of function space.
Just 10 minutes northwest of Atlanta, Cobb County offers respite from downtown’s traffic and congestion and is home to 135 hotels with a little over 13,000 hotel rooms and more than 375,000 square feet of meeting space.
“We get mainly regional markets but we have various trade shows and several events that attract an international crowd,” says Abbey Harwell, communications manager for the Cobb County CVB.
Cobb’s largest space, the Cobb Galleria Centre, opened the $106 million multipurpose Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in September 2007. The first phase included a 2,750-seat theater and 10,000 square feet of meeting space. The center is now home to the Atlanta Opera and Atlanta Ballet.
Connected to the Galleria Centre by pedestrian bridge is the Cumberland Mall, which is receiving a multimillion-dollar makeover. On the horizon is the Aviation Museum at Marietta, projected to open in 2010.
Off-site options include The Pace House in Vinings, which Harwell calls a niche area like Buckhead. Vinings offers an open-air shopping center and other historic buildings. The Sullivan House, a traditional antebellum home with gazebos and covered pavilions, is open to groups, as is the Mansour Center in Marietta. The Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History also has meeting space.
Gwinnett County lies 30 minutes north of downtown Atlanta and lures groups with hotel rates that average 40 percent lower than the city.
“We’re a major drive market,” says Lisa Anders, marketing communications director for the Gwinnett CVB. “Every major highway feeds into Gwinnett, and we have accessibility to Atlanta. Groups can do everything at our convention center on-site.”
Gwinnett Center features a 50,000-square-foot exhibit hall, a 21,600-square-foot ballroom and a 700-seat performing arts center. The center is expanding with more meetings rooms, 75,000 square of new exhibit space and an on-site headquarters hotel scheduled to open in 2010. In addition, a 259-room Embassy Suites is slated to open in fall 2009 at the corner of the convention center.
“We feel like it will take us up to the next tier of convention sites,” Anders says. “Without a headquarters hotel, certain association groups won’t consider us. The hotel will allow us to bid on types of groups we haven’t been [bidding on].”
Gwinnett offers over 45 event facilities, ranging from historic homes to funky restaurants. Groups can also host events at the Children’s Art Museum, the Hudgens Center for the Arts and the Payne Porley House, a restored historic home in Duluth that recently added a 6,000-square-foot ballroom for bigger corporate events. It is also home to the Mall of Georgia.
An upcoming attraction will be a 10,000-seat stadium serving as the new home for the Triple A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves baseball team. The stadium is due for completion by April 2009.
Meetings properties in the county include the Atlanta Marriott Gwinnett Place and the Hilton Peachtree Corners.
For convenience, DeKalb County is a quick trip via MARTA (Atlanta’s mass transit rapid rail and bus system) to and from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. DeKalb, which offers over 100 hotels, is home to one of Georgia’s top draws, Stone Mountain Park, which recently debuted a new attraction, the Sky Hike, a canopy adventure through the treetops featuring suspended bridges, high ropes and vertical nets. Other attractions in the park include a sky lift to the top of the mountain and boating on the lake.
DeKalb can also host groups at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History, which houses the world’s largest dinosaur exhibit; the Michael C. Carlos Museum, with the Southeast’s largest collection of ancient art; and various venues in DeKalb’s International Corridor, the county’s main shopping and restaurant district.
Stone Mountain Park’s Marriott Evergreen Conference Resort, which recently added a 6,000-square-foot ballroom, is a popular meetings option.
For More Info
Atlanta CVB 404.521.6600 www.atlanta.net
Cobb County CVB 678.303.2622 www.cobbcvb.com
DeKalb CVB 770.492.5000 www.atlantasdekalb.org
Gwinnett CVB 770.623.3600 www.gcvb.org
