The superb beaches, boardwalks and attractions along New Jersey’s 130-mile coastline power much of the state’s $43.4 billion tourism industry, while also attracting groups looking to mix meetings with a refreshing change of scenery and perspective. With several major convention facilities along its coast, New Jersey is a “shore thing” for doing business at the beach.
Expanding its meetings infrastructure and enhancing its business market appeal are strategic imperatives for Atlantic City. Dramatically validating this direction is the $125.8 million, 100,000-square-foot Harrah’s Atlantic City Waterfront Conference Center, which instantly ignited current and future year bookings since opening last September--including the 2,000-plus delegates participating in MPI’s 2016 World Education Congress this month.
With its own distinct footprint, the new venue vitally complements the Atlantic City Convention Center. At 600,000 square feet, it’s the largest convention facility in New Jersey, offering nearly 500,000 contiguous square feet of exhibit space, plus 45 meeting rooms and ample prefunction areas.
Opened in 1929, the city’s original convention facility, Boardwalk Hall, is among the world’s top grossing mid-size multipurpose venues, seating 14,770 for events and also offering the 3,200-seat Adrian Phillips Ballroom.
Details on how Tropicana Casino & Resort Atlantic City, Resorts Casino Hotel and Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa are investing in the city’s meetings future are explained in this month’s cover story.
As Meet AC President and CEO Jim Wood says, “We have a singular intent to grow our meetings business.”
Roughly 90 minutes north of Atlantic City, resurgent Asbury Park, the Victorian-era beach resort immortalized in Bruce Springsteen’s 1973 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, hosts conventions, sporting events, concerts and other gatherings at historic Convention Hall. The 11,730-square-foot venue, which debuted with the annual meeting of the New York Friars Club in 1930 and hosted many rock legends from the 1960s on, can flexibly accommodate up to 3,600 people. Groups of up to 900 can also rent the giant breezeway of the Grand Arcade, which connects the Convention Hall with the historic 1,600-seat Paramount Theatre.
Just above the Cape May peninsula about an hour south of Atlantic City, The Wildwoods and its famed Doo-Wop hotels, neon-lit boulevards and yesteryear ambience has been a family-friendly draw for generations. Built directly on the beach—among the widest on the Jersey Shore—the Wildwoods Convention Center is uniquely attractive in its own right.
Connected to the destination’s nationally acclaimed 38-block Boardwalk and its arcade of attractions, the convention center accentuates its prime location with versatile hosting of conventions, tradeshows, concerts and events for groups of 10 to 10,000 people.
Key measurements of the 260,000-square-foot venue include 86,700 square feet of unobstructed exhibit space; 75,000 square feet of meeting space with 15 breakout rooms; 23,440 square feet of lobby and prefunction space; a 11,700-square-foot ballroom; and a 7,500-seat arena. Plus, there is a windowed wall opening onto a 6,600-square-foot outside deck with spectacular beach and ocean views; a translucent Teflon-coated roof admitting sunlight during the day; and outdoor parking for 700 vehicles. This month, an RFP is scheduled to go out for an adjacent headquarters hotel.
