Buffalo’s meetings and conventions business continues to increase. Historic buildings are being reborn, and large ballroom space has been added to the central business district where the primary convention facility has undergone a makeover.
In Niagara Falls, Ontario, meetings capacity has been elevated by its one-year-old convention center, the region’s largest. And across the river, Niagara Falls, N.Y., has seen the further revitalization of its Old Falls Street downtown area.
The region has something else to commemorate. “Celebrating 200 years of Peace” is the tagline of the War of 1812 Bicentennial. Special events will be held through 2014, spearheaded by the Niagara 1812 Legacy Council (www.visit1812.com).
Buffalo
Buffalo is located on Lake Erie’s eastern shore at the mouth of the Niagara River just 25 miles from the falls.
Last year was another record-setting year in future group hotel room nights booked by Visit Buffalo Niagara, with 165,644, up from 150,439 in 2010.
“With the continued investment in attractions and hotel properties, we hope to carry this momentum through 2012,” says Dottie Gallagher-Cohen, president and CEO of Visit Buffalo Niagara, formerly the Buffalo Niagara CVB. In May of last year, the “Queen City” launched a new rebranding campaign with the slogan, “Buffalo. For Real.”
“Now, more than ever, Buffalo Niagara offers something you can’t find everywhere: an authentic city experience without the big city hassles and pricing,” she says. “Planners will find the newly renovated Buffalo Niagara Convention Center surrounded by more than 1,600 new or renovated hotel rooms, along with incredible attractions and great nightlife.”PageBreak
The convention center held a grand reopening in October 2010 after being closed for three months for a $7 million renovation. And according to Gallagher-Cohen, last year, the center broke its record for earned revenues in a single year and reinvested more money in upgrades.
With more than 110,000 square feet of space, the convention center includes a 64,400-square-foot unobstructed exhibit hall and a 12,400-square-foot ballroom. Across from it, the 396-room Hyatt Regency Buffalo has more than 26,000 square feet of meeting space. Four other hotels are located within a half mile, including the 486-room Adam’s Mark, with 72,000 square feet of meeting space; the 182-suite Embassy Suites Buffalo, with more than 6,000 square feet of meeting space; Hampton Inn & Suites Buffalo; and Comfort Suites Buffalo.
Also across from the center is the sprawling Statler Hotel, a 1923 landmark building that recently became Statler City. The first three floors have been redeveloped into five ballrooms and meeting rooms holding 20 to 2,000 people, plus a lobby bar and a nightclub. Plans have yet to be made for the rest of the building.
Slated for a summer opening is the Hotel Lafayette building near Lafayette Square, a few blocks from the convention center. Used for social services housing for decades, the 1904 building was closed a year ago and is undergoing a $35 million restoration that will convert it to apartments, meeting space and 34 hotel rooms.
“Buffalo is a mecca for art, architecture, history and culture,” Gallagher-Cohen says. “Event attendees can see buildings by masters like Frank Lloyd Wright, take in one of the world’s greatest collections of modern and contemporary art at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, explore our historic, emerging Erie Canal Harbor, or sample one of our 400 independently owned restaurants. On top of all this, we have a world wonder, Niagara Falls, just 20 minutes away.”
Founded in 1862, the Albright-Knox is just one of three museums, all featuring event space, that are celebrating sesquicentennials this year with special exhibits and programming. The other two are the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society and the Buffalo Museum of Science.PageBreak
The newest hotel, the 139-room Courtyard by Marriott Buffalo-Airport, opened in August last year with a 1,200-square-foot meeting room. Work is also expected to begin soon in the harbor area on another Courtyard by Marriott. Proposed for a late 2013 opening, the 96-room property will take up part of Canalside’s vacant Donovan office building.
The harbor area has been undergoing a $295 million redevelopment. New canals are under construction and a new ferry system was launched last year. Downtown’s waterfront contains the 18,690-seat multipurpose First Niagara Center (formerly HSBC Arena), home of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. Just to the north is Coca-Cola Field, home of the Buffalo Bisons, and to the east is the 457-slot Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino, which recently completed a $9 million expansion.
Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Roughly 20 miles northwest of Buffalo is Niagara Falls, N.Y. Of the 4,000 rooms in Niagara County, more than 1,000 are committable for the city’s primary venue, the Conference Center Niagara Falls in the heart of downtown. Another 1,000 rooms are within 10 minutes of the center.
The IACC-certified center has 116,000 square feet of space and 15 meeting rooms and includes a 19,500-square-foot learning center, a 10,500-square-foot ballroom, and a 32,200-square-foot event center.
Anchoring the center’s eastern side is Cataract City’s largest meetings hotel, the 594-room, AAA Four Diamond Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel, which has more than 30,000 square feet of meeting space and recently completed a $10.4 million room renovation. In 2010, the Seneca Nation added an 18-hole golf course in the nearby town of Lewiston.
Other hotels include the adjacent 391-room Sheraton at the Falls, with 23,500 square feet of meeting space, a Quality Inn & Suites and a Holiday Inn.
According to Elizabeth Davis, director of sales at the Niagara Tourism & Convention Corporation, Old Falls Street has been revitalized in recent years, and the city and Niagara Tourism have promoted continued growth in activities, from lunchtime concerts and special events to annual festivals.
“It is a whole new initiative that has been successful,” she says. “We have a wonderful mix of food and attractions. Everything is within walking distance. You can walk along the falls and around Goat Island. It is exhilarating.”
This fall Niagara County Community College will open a new culinary arts center and restaurant in the area.
Four miles east of downtown near the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls and Niagara Falls International Airport is the 141-room Four Points by Sheraton, with 8,440 square feet of meeting space. Formerly the Inn on the River, it held its grand opening in June 2011 following a $6.5 million renovation.
Group activities include the Maid of the Mist boat tours, canal cruises, jet boat tours and trips to more than a dozen nearby wineries. PageBreak
Niagara Falls, Ontario
With some 16,000 hotel rooms, Canada’s slightly larger city of Niagara Falls can be reached on foot via the Rainbow Bridge from downtown Niagara Falls, N.Y. Just four miles from the Conference Center Niagara Falls is the new $100 Million Scotiabank Convention Centre (SCCN), which debuted in April 2011.
Built to LEED Silver standards, the 288,000-square-foot facility includes an 82,000-square-foot exhibition hall, a 17,000-square-foot ballroom, 26,000 square feet of meeting space and a 1,000-seat theater.
“A growing list of public and private events has, for the first time, come to Niagara to take advantage of the center’s expansive and flexible spaces and its proximity to the U.S.-Canadian border,” says Jeff Dixon, the center’s assistant general manager. “Such satisfied customers as the Niagara Food & Wine Expo, the Greater Niagara Home & Garden Show and the Niagara Outdoor Sports & Boat Show opened to large and enthusiastic numbers. These events and others will be returning.”
SCCN, Dixon notes, is located within walking distance of dozens of world-class luxury properties and nearly 5,000 hotel rooms mainly along Fallsview Boulevard, which commands views of the thundering Horseshoe Falls.
Across from SCCN is the recently renovated, 407-room Marriott Gateway on the Falls (formerly Sheraton Fallsview), with 40,000 square feet of function space. Next to it is the 432-room Marriott Fallsview, with 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
A few blocks north of the center is the 516-room Hilton Niagara Falls, with 50,000 square feet of meeting space. Connected to it is the 374-room Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort, with 30,000 square feet of meeting space. Other properties include an Embassy Suites, a Doubletree and a Renaissance.
“Now a group of 1,500 people is an ideal size for us. Before it was 800,” says Paula Racher, director, MC&IT at Niagara Falls Tourism. “Having the convention center has also allowed us to have larger corporate meetings.”
Along the 35-mile Niagara Parkway from Fort Erie to Niagara-on-the-Lake on Lake Ontario, the Niagara Parks Commission operates restaurants, five golf courses and other attractions, as well as event venues for up to 1,000.
The city’s Niagara Falls History Museum returns to its permanent location on the site of the War of 1812 battlefield at Lundy’s Lane July 21 after a $9.7 million redevelopment and expansion. It will play a key role in the bicentennial events.
Tony Bartlett has been writing about the travel industry for more than 25 years.
