How GOCAL Is Going Big With a Massive Convention Center Expansion and More
Michael Krouse, president and CEO of the Greater Ontario, California CVB, aka GOCAL, and regional vice president convention centers for ASM Global, shares details on a massive expansion project that will double the size of the Ontario Convention Center (including a parking garage that can double as an event venue!) as well as a new entertainment district, Empire Sports Complex and baseball stadium, and an expansion of Ontario International Airport and a downtown improvement project.
[Related: Ontario, California, Goes Big With Massive Convention Center Expansion]
Adding to all of this is the ambitious new Brightline West high-speed rail project that will link L.A. to Las Vegas and go through Rancho Cucamonga, California.
See how this sunny SoCal standout , ideally positioned between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, is making major strides to leap into a new strata of meetings and conventions destinations.
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*Sponsored by GOCAL
Transcript
Editors note: The following transcription was facilitated by an AI program and proofed by our editors. Although it is very accurate, there inevitably will be some mistakes, so please consider that when reading. Thank you.
Tyler Davidson
Hello, and welcome to this Meetings Today Podcast.
I'm Tyler Davidson, vice president and chief content director for Meetings Today. And really, I'm glad to be joined by a hospitality and Southern California meetings and industry veteran Michael Krause, who is the president and CEO of the Greater Ontario CA., GOCAL, and regional vice president of convention centers for ASM Global. Did I get all that right, Michael?
Michael Krouse
You did. It's a lot of lot of titles in there.
Tyler Davidson
Well, you must be doing something right then, right, if you have a lot of titles?
Michael Krouse
I don't know why. [Maybe] I'm doing something wrong and they just give me a lot more work?
Tyler Davidson
Exactly. That's how it works.
Let's jump into it. Congratulations on your award, described as the Southern California hospitality industry's top individual award for achievement, the Anastasia K. Mann Award from the Travel and Tourism Marketing Association, just in late October.
So, congratulations on that. What do you think of that accolade?
Michael Krouse
Oh, wow. I mean, you know, they called it a lifetime achievement award, Tyler, so I was kind of frustrated by that terminology, because if that doesn't make you feel old, I don't know what does…
Tyler Davidson
Yeah.
Michael Krouse
It was a great honor to receive that. There were almost 300 people in attendance, and they made more money for the association than ever in their history as a result of that; it was a fundraiser as well as an award ceremony. So, I felt kind of special because I was able to help them, so that's great.
Tyler Davidson
I've I looked at some of the past award winners and there's some pretty big names on there, so you've got some good company.
Michael Krouse
I didn't arrive in shabby company.
I mean, Caroline Beteta, the head of visit California, was on there, and the head of Cal Travel's on there. It was quite an audience of folks of winners, so I'm in good company.
Tyler Davidson
Tell us a little bit about your history in the hospitality industry.
Michael Krouse
Well, it's a long story, but I'll capsulate it 'cause I'm a big talker.
So… long story short, I actually started driving tour buses. That's how it all started. I drove tour buses because I needed the work—I was going to school and that was how it started. I grew into operations and then to sales and marketing.
Someone said to me one day—at a visitor and convention bureau in Anaheim—said “Michael, you've got to go into hotels.”
And so I said, “Sure, well, let me try that.”
So, I started in hotels and advanced my way over--got 20-plus years in hotels, and the hotel led to visitor and convention bureaus.
And that's kind of how it went. I kind of just did different facets along the way. Most of my career has been in hotel and visitor and convention bureaus, whether it be through sales and/or marketing. So, I've been fortunate to do primarily that.
Tyler Davidson
Very well-rounded career you've had so far, right?
Michael Krouse
Yes, yes. And I've done a lot of operations stuff as well, but I enjoy the sales and marketing and leadership part of it the most, I guess you could say.
Tyler Davidson
Let’s talk about the Inland Empire, the area you represent. I mean, the location is amazing there, right? Right in the heart of Southern California, near major population centers, major tourism draws.
Michael Krouse
Yeah. It really is, and I think that you said it very well.
We're kind of in the heart of it all and that really is because of the accessibility of our location, and if you think about it, you know the Ontario International Airport here, at literally three minutes from the convention center, the Ontario Convention Center, about five minutes from the Toyota Arena and, of course, we have multiple major freeways that connect here in the Inland Empire that are heading to different destinations around us.
So, to use an example, you come here and you go through here to go to Vegas. You come through here to go to Palm Springs. You come through here to go to Los Angeles and you come through here to go to the beach communities.
So, it's kind of a central hub of the world, I guess you could say, in our region; multiple freeways intersect here, which helps. And remember, in this region, too, a lot of people forget we have 5 million people right here in the Inland Empire.
So, people don't realize we have as many people as Los Angeles right here in the Inland Empire. We're the largest county, in fact, in the country.
Tyler Davidson
Yeah, it is amazing. You know, a lot going on there in your destination, too.
I guess the biggest thing is the expansion of the Ontario Convention Center, with perhaps some hotel news attached to that also.
Michael Krouse
We do. We have a lot of excitement going on with the expansion. We're hoping to have this completed by approximately December—just prior to the Olympics—so December of 2027, if all goes smoothly and we are on schedule. To this point, we're going to be doubling the size of the convention center.
So, we'll be going from what is today about 250,000 total square feet to over a half million square feet, including a quite an amazing parking garage.
I know that sounds funny, but our parking garage is actually going to have the ability to turn into meeting space.
Tyler Davidson
Well, I know…wait a second…Let's back up. How is that possible?
Michael Krouse
We're making the ceiling heights higher and we're eliminating a lot of obstructions and creating power boxes and different things, because, you know, we're a warm-weather destination. We can do a lot of things, but we'll have the benefits of the covering of the garage.
So, the first two floors will be convertible if we need to do that. But more importantly, we'll have more than a 50,000-square-foot plaza between the parking garage and the main convention center.
So, we have a lot of outdoor space for all those events that want to use that for concerts, for car shows. Whatever you might want to do in the outdoors, we can now do it in this expanded facility.
Tyler Davidson
Where does this put you in your competitive set, or does it bring you to a whole other level?
Michael Krouse
I think what it does is it probably changes our business mix more than it changes our competitive mix. The business mix changes pretty dramatically, and that would be primarily today we're Texas-West or the state of California up to Pacific Northwest. Now we'll be fed nationwide because our size is now appropriate for a whole different demographic of customer. So, that's probably the biggest impact it'll have on us.
And remember, we'll still be a quaint-size building, I guess you could say, but we have a lot bigger amenities, and don't forget part of this project is also going to be a new 600-room convention hotel.
Tyler Davidson
Tell us more about that. Is there a brand associated with it yet, or to be announced or…?
Michael Krouse
To be announced brand, but I will tell you because I've been involved in every one of the meetings, every brand is chomping at the bit to come in here and be on this building. It is going to be a four- to five-star product they're doing.
It's going to be a mix, a little bit like the JW Marriott in downtown Los Angeles where it has a Ritz-Carlton and a JW Marriott, although we won't have those brands. Well, we might have a Marriott and then another one of their high-end products, as an example, or Hilton; one of their higher-end products. So, you have a mix of room types.
Tyler Davidson
That gives you a lot of flexibility for the groups also coming in, right?
Michael Krouse
Right. We're excited about that because it'll open up some additional audiences for us.
Tyler Davidson
And then aside from the convention center expansion and the new hotel, or hotels, coming in, there's a lot of other stuff going on. I think other developments could include a new entertainment district, the Empire Sports Complex, even a new baseball stadium. Why don't you fill everyone in on all that stuff?
Michael Krouse
Let me tell you first about the entertainment district. We are about to break ground on phase one of the new entertainment district that will basically be housed on the parking lots of our Toyota Arena. Today, our 11,000-seat arena, home to the Ontario Reign, which is our AHL hockey team and affiliated with the LA Kings.
That will be our footprint, and that will include everything from restaurants, nightclubs, bars, a whole outdoor scene on these plazas, ultimately culminating with a new performing arts theater for 2500 seats in phase two.
That will break ground in November. We've been prepping for this for about a year and a half, two years now and we're finally ready to break ground, and then we'll head over to our new 200-acre Ontario Sports Empire [Complex]. This sports park is going to be amazing.
Some of the features of it will be two championship baseball diamonds, eight full-size diamonds. We’ll have 14 youth sports diamonds, 20 long fields, four football/rugby fields. All of that supported by our more than 6,000 hotel rooms here in the market, so it’s going to be quite a cool thing.
A that same location will be our new Minor League Baseball stadium, which will host 6,000 seats and also be home to the new Dodger affiliate—go Dodgers!—the World Series, world champion Dodgers.
Tyler Davidson
World champion Dodgers. As a Giants fan, I hate to say those words, but there you go….
Michael Krouse
Well, I love it, because of course I'm from LA, so I do love that.
But, long story short, we will be the home to the new team that will move into that building in April of 2026. So, it's just around the corner.
Tyler Davidson
Oh, excellent. Also, I guess you have a downtown improvement project going on, and all these things seem to probably just work closely coordinated with each other, I'm sure.
Michael Krouse
Yes, yes. And we're very lucky that here at GOCAL, the city includes us in all these. We're very blessed in the sense that our city engages us in all these projects.
We do a great deal of special event work in downtown Ontario on historic Euclid Ave. We have Christmas on Euclid down there, and the Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion car show that we also operate for the city. And that street, by the way, is six lanes—it's a huge fair, and we're also working right now on restoring what is an old historic theater down there called the Granada Theater, of which we're going to start restoring shortly to its historic original beauty.
And then we're going to provide new exciting content in that space for visitors to downtown Ontario to enjoy.
But also what's very cool, we're adding a lot of multifaceted residential down there in addition to all of the cool things to see and do.
So, we're kind of excited about that, too.
Tyler Davidson
Tell me more about the Brightline train coming in and that project, too. High-speed rail really fascinates me, and you have a lot going on down there, right?
Michael Krouse
We're real excited to be part of that.
Actually, GOCAL is one of the marketing partners on that and we just saw Pete Buttigieg in Las Vegas when he was out there giving some money to us. That’s going to cost over a billion dollars and it will run from Las Vegas right to Rancho Cucamonga station here in Rancho Cucamonga, which we also represent as well.
We're very excited about that. I would say you're going to see some major, major activity on that next year.
Tyler Davidson
And then, finally, maybe talk a little bit more about the international terminal expansion at the airport there. I know you have a lot of freeways, a lot of parking space that can become meeting space, but you're also hitting all the bases with the airport, too.
Michael Krouse
An amazing comeback story, so to speak, ever since taking that over now, six to seven years ago, I believe from Los Angeles World Airports, who ran it before us. It has really turned into an exciting place.
The most exciting feature that I think people have been excited about is the physical airport; what's happening in the existing terminals, which is all the new food outlets and all the new experiences while you're waiting for your flight or going between flights. It's really cool because we have everything from now, A Chick-fil-A in the airport, which you know, you don't see a lot of those, and a variety of other things.
Dunkin' Donuts, all kinds of new, fresh ideas have come in there on the food and beverage side.
But the international terminal is rapidly approaching. There's some major items going on with the FAA that I can't really talk too much about yet, but we're getting near that. We are doing very well, though, running 98% full on our China Airlines flight, in case you hadn't heard about that, and we continue to break records as it relates to service. We just announced Southwest Airlines; a new daily nonstop coming up here later this year to Boston direct from Ontario. So, we're excited about that.
There's always something new, some new carrier adding service, but the international growth is going to be huge in the next 10 years.
Tyler Davidson
Wonderful. Thank you, Michael, for joining us today. And anything you want to add just for a planner who might not be familiar with the area. You're like an hour from beaches to wine country, close to places like Palm Springs, of course, the LA metro area.
You know, if you're a planner who's not familiar with the Greater Ontario region, what do you think they should know?
Michael Krouse
Well, I think that's important to understand that you really can get anywhere from here. Ontario is probably more well known for the fact that our accommodations are varied. We have a lot of variety of hotel accommodations and therefore we have a lot of variety of price points. So, where you might be paying $300, $400 a night in Los Angeles, you could get a very similar accommodation here for half that price.
Don't forget that you can go skiing from here in an hour. You can go up to Big Bear from here in Arrowhead and you can go skiing. And let's not forget wine country with our friends here in the region as well, in Temecula.
So, you don't want to forget that, and Palm Springs, as you said, I live in Palm Springs and I commute in and out of Ontario. It's only an hour from here, so I think it's important to remember access to all of these things.
So, don't forget Ontario Mills Shopping center. It's an outlet mall a mile in circumference. That shopping center does more visitors a year than Disneyland.
Tyler Davidson
Wow.
Michael Krouse
It's important to remember, and I think you'll be shocked to hear, that even our new sports park is projected to do about 1.8 million people a year through it.
So, we're anticipating some huge volumes of visitors through these locations and lots of new hotel products are coming as well I didn't even touch on.
So you've got a lot coming. You've got a central location. [riced well, competitively positioned and a beautiful assortment of things for people to do.
Tyler Davidson
I think that states it very well. Thank you for joining us today, Michael.
Michael Krouse
I can't thank you enough for having us, and come see us in Ontario soon.
Tyler Davidson
I'll take you up on that. That was Michael Krouse, president and CEO of Greater Ontario, CA, aka GOCAL, and regional vice president convention Centers for ASM Global.
I'm Tyler Davidson, vice president and chief content director for Meetings Today.
Thank you for joining us for this Meetings Today Podcast, and if you're interested in any of our other podcasts, just head on over to our website, meetingstoday.com, and check out our robust podcast section for lots of different interviews with industry thought-leaders.
So, thank you for joining us today, and no matter what you're up to with the rest of it, go out and make it great.
