Wearing the crown “Capital of the New South,” Atlanta fulfills its title on a number of fronts. Culture buffs can enjoy the High Museum of Art, Fox Theatre and Atlanta Ballet. Outdoor aficionados can stroll through the Atlanta Botanical Garden or go boating on Lake Lanier, while sports mavens will revel in watching the Atlanta Braves or Falcons, or taking in the history of the 1996 Olympics. Atlanta is also home to the world’s largest aquarium, and more than 14 of the world’s largest companies are located in the metropolitan area.
“We’re trying to get the message out that Atlanta is a tremendous business-to-business city,” says Mark Vaughan, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer for the Atlanta CVB. “We’re two hours from 80 percent of the population in the U.S. We have the world’s largest airport and various price points, from economy to luxury. We have convention centers and hotels from 100 rooms to 1,700 rooms. We offer a pretty unique package to those who want to conduct a meeting.”
The Atlanta CVB launched its “Atlanta Means Business” campaign in January.
“We are communicating bimonthly to our database how affordable Atlanta is and how accessible we are,” Vaughan says. “We have not scaled back any marketing efforts.”
Atlanta conference venues and meeting facilities have a combined exhibition capacity of more than 2 million square feet, and there are more than 88,000 hotel rooms in the metropolitan area.
Aside from affordability, Atlanta continues to reinvent itself. No less than 45 restaurants opened in downtown Atlanta last year, including a number of big-name chains. Existing museums and attractions are being spruced up while a number of new ventures are also in the works.
“That’s the No. 1 thing I hear when people come to Atlanta—people who haven’t been to Atlanta in the last three years; they are pretty awed by what’s going on here,” Vaughan says.
Each neighborhood is seeing change. Downtown Atlanta is home to the Georgia State Capitol, City Hall and the headquarters of numerous corporations. It is also a haven for attractions, including Centennial Park, the CNN Tour, Georgia Aquarium and the new World of Coca-Cola.
Centennial Olympic Park can host an outdoor event for up to 10,000 people.
“When the sun goes down and the park lights up, it’s a very unique and rich setting,” Vaughan says.
The Georgia Aquarium is adding a $110 million dolphin exhibit that will open by the end of 2010 and include dolphin encounters. Earlier this year, the National Museum of Patriotism relocated downtown, across from the aquarium.
Atlanta’s downtown trade complex facility, AmericasMart, recently added a new two-story, 70,000-square-foot ballroom and event facility.
Also downtown, the National Health Museum will open in 2013 near Centennial Olympic Park. The museum is designed to inspire Americans to live healthier lives through access to knowledge and themed exhibits focused on the life sciences.
Another project in the works, the Center for Civil and Human Rights, is slated to debut in 2012 with a focus on contributions to the cause made by Atlantans and Georgians. In addition, the center will house the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection and feature interactive audio and video exhibits. The center will also include a meeting and performance space. The facility will be adjacent to the World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium.
Rooftop venues are also becoming popular in downtown Atlanta, according to Vaughan, including the rooftops of the Glen Hotel and F.A.B. (French American Brasserie), where the rooftop can accommodate 80 people for a sit-down dinner and 140 for hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. Less formal is STATS sports bar with its own rooftop setting. The rooftop of Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta Downtown can also be converted to banquet space for parties of up to 250 people.
Buckhead remains popular for its restaurants and nightlife, and increasingly for its shopping. Home to the shopping centers Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza, in 2011 it will also be home to a Rodeo Drive-like development, Streets of Buckhead, with boutique hotels and high-end retail shopping.
“Buckhead is going through a real transformation right now,” Vaughan says. “It’s a luxury paradise full of high-end shopping and high-end hotels.”
Buckhead is also home to the Atlanta History Center, including a 20,000-square-foot wing dedicated to commemorating the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.
Fashion hounds and club-goers are looking to Midtown, with a nightlife corridor along Crescent Street. A number of developments are in the works for attractions in the Midtown area. The Atlanta Botanical Garden will open a new LEED-certified visitor center this summer. By 2010, the current parking lot will be replaced with a new edible garden and outdoor cooking demonstration kitchen and will also include a canopy walk through the Storza Woods.
For excursions, Midtown features the High Museum of Art, the 1920s-era Fox Theatre, Piedmont Park and Margaret Mitchell House and Museum. In addition, the Center for Puppetry Arts is planning to open a Jim Henson wing in 2012, which will double the museum’s current size.
Hotel development continues at a rapid pace throughout Atlanta.
Two boutique hotels recently opened in downtown Atlanta: the Glenn and The Ellis.
Also downtown, the 237-room W Atlanta-Downtown opened in January, complete with a Bliss spa, 9,000 square feet of meeting and event space, and a helicopter pad. When the final phase is completed in 2012, the plaza will include retail and restaurants and more than 500 luxury hotel rooms. The project will cost nearly $2 billion.
The 242-room Hilton Garden Inn opened last spring near the Georgia Aquarium and Georgia World Congress Center, one of the country’s five largest convention centers.
Another downtown development, the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and Hilton Atlanta, constructed a pedestrian skybridge linking the two hotels in March. The bridge gives planners and attendees a seamless convention experience with a combined 279,000 square feet of meeting space and 2,800 rooms. Last year the Atlanta Marriott Marquis added 40,000 square feet of meeting space.
The Sheraton Atlanta is spending $20 million on a renovation.
Other downtown hotels completing renovations include the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, which invested more than $15 million in renovations to its guest rooms, ballrooms and exhibit space.
On the horizon, a Hard Rock Hotel will be the focal point of a mixed-use development near the Georgia Aquarium. The 270-room hotel will open in 2011.
In Midtown, a $100 million investment funded the recent opening of Kimpton Hotels’ 304-room Hotel Palomar Atlanta Midtown, featuring 10,000 square feet of meeting space, and the W Atlanta Midtown also recently debuted.
The Georgian Terrace Hotel also recently completed an $11 million renovation project to upgrade guest rooms, and an area near the lobby was converted into a space for functions and gatherings.
Slated to open in 2010, the 414-room Loews Atlanta Hotel will be the centerpiece of 12th & Midtown.
Also in Midtown, a the 200-room Mandarin Oriental Hotel is slated to open in 2010.
The Buckhead area has also been busy with new hotels and renovations. The W Buckhead opened last November with 295 guest rooms and 7,000 square feet of meeting space. Other newcomers include The Mansion, with 127 rooms, a 15,000-square-foot spa and celebrity chef Tom Colicchio’s Craft restaurant, and the St. Regis Atlanta, with 150 guest rooms and 50 condos, as well as a 9,200-square-foot ballroom.
Other meetings-friendly hotels in Buckhead include The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead; JW Marriott Hotel Buckhead; Westin Buckhead Atlanta; and InterContinental Buckhead.
Greater Atlanta
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. An expanded airport people mover will also provide direct access to MARTA, Atlanta’s metro system.
The airport area is filled with hotel options and also boasts the 400,000-square-foot Georgia International Convention Center. In the future, a 450-room Marriott hotel is slated to be connected to the center.
“If you want to hold a meeting you can soon go to the airport and never go outside,” Vaughan says, though the hotel is another year-and-a-half away.
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. Heading north of the city, the Chateau Elan Winery & Resort in Braselton offers 25,000 square feet of meeting space.
Northwest of Atlanta, Cobb County has a more intimate group setting, yet lies just 10 minutes from Atlanta’s major attractions. The county is home to over 13,000 hotel rooms and more than 375,000 square feet of meeting space.
“A lot of groups, with the economy and dropping attendance, are starting to look to the [Atlanta] suburbs,” says Abbey Harwell, communications and technology marketing manager for the Cobb County CVB. “We just did a sales blitz in Charlotte, Raleigh and Durham, [N.C.]. The biggest sales pitch is our location—we are accessible from anywhere—and our affordability, with meeting facilities and free parking. We make the groups feel like a big fish in a small pond.”
Attractions include the Atlanta Ballet, which performs at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, offering two large ballrooms for groups. Nearby is the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum, which will undergo the largest renovation since its conception in 1986. The $10 million project is slated for completion in October.
Marietta Square is the center of old Marietta, with many shopping and historical attractions, including a Gone with the Wind Museum and a number of shops. The town of Kennesaw is home to the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park and Kennesaw State University.
Embassy Suites Hotel Atlanta-Kennesaw Town Center is slated to open by the end of the year with 192 suites and a little over 6,500 square feet of meeting space.
The Chattahoochee River forms the northwest boundary of Gwinnett County, which is flush with parks and lakes, including Lake Lanier. Last year the National Recreation and Park Association awarded Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation with the Gold Medal award, recognizing Excellence in Park and Recreation Management.
Fresh options for groups include a new 10,000-seat stadium serving as the new home for the Triple A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves baseball team. The stadium offers suites and club areas for dining. Gwinnett also lures shoppers with its Discover Mills Mall and the Southeast’s largest shopping destination, Mall of Georgia. Other attractions include the Southeastern Railway Museum and Sugarloaf Country Club golf course.
“The Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center is good for corporate meetings that are going green,” says Leah Hellams, sales manager for the Gwinnett CVB.
Other off-site venues include the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville and the Duluth Festival Center. The Medieval Times dinner theater in Discover Mills Mall is an off-site option replete with dueling knights.
Gwinnett Center features a 50,000- square-foot exhibit hall, a 21,600-square-foot ballroom and a 700-seat performing arts center. An on-site headquarters hotel scheduled to open in 2010 has been put on hold.
Courtyard by Marriott Atlanta Buford/Mall of Georgia opened in June with 110 guest rooms.
DeKalb County not only offers easy access to Atlanta’s airport with the MARTA connection, but features one of the treasures of Georgia, Stone Mountain Park. It is also known for sporting the world’s largest indoor farmers market, and the county is home to the Center for Disease Control’s Global Health Odyssey museum.
DeKalb is anchored by the city of Decatur, rich with funky shops, boutiques and galleries. Its Old Courthouse Square is now home to The Decatur History Center, and the town is known for its festivals and events.
Stone Mountain Park’s Marriott Evergreen Conference Resort, which recently added a 6,000-square-foot ballroom, is a popular meetings option.
The Emory Conference Center Hotel recently added 127 guest rooms and 6,000 square feet of meeting space as well as its own bowling alley, Wisteria Lanes, which groups can use for parties. The hotel now offers 325 guest rooms with six suites and 32,000 square feet of meeting space.
“That’s our hook right now with marketing and advertising,” says Kathryn Johnson, general manager of the hotel. “You can have a meeting or conference, and not have to leave to have fun.”
Venues include Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum, with the Southeast’s largest collection of ancient art; Fernbank Museum of Natural History, which houses the world’s largest dinosaur exhibit; and the 1920s-era Houston Mill House.
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
