Fox Cities Exhibition Center

Lynn Peters explained that the conversation on whether or not there should be convention center in the Fox Cities started about 25 years ago. In 2008, the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureau conducted a feasibility study to determine whether there was a reason to continue this conversation. Afterwards, the Appleton City Council and Mayor appointed a Convention Center Community Coalition to conduct more in-depth studies. The results were reported to the community in December 2010. On January 14, 2011, the Fox Cities Exhibition Center was chartered to pursue the development of an exhibit space that, when combined with existing services and space at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel, results in a prominent and competitive convention facility in downtown Appleton. The feasibility study determined that there was a strong market demand, downtown Appleton was the best site, should partner with the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel and that the best size would be 30,000-35,000 square feet of exhibit space plus 50% more for support. This facility would bring $8.4 million annual economic impact to the community.

Walt Rugland reported that if we had a full service convention center capacity (400 rooms, ballroom of 15,000 sq, feet, adequate meeting rooms and an exhibition center for trade shows and exhibits), it would add about 42,000 overnight stays and 66,000 annual non-local visitor days to the Fox Cities. Except for the exhibition center, the Radisson has all these features. Over 20 years, the annual economic impact would be about $105 million. In order for the exhibition center to be built, there are many things that need to come together. (Click here to read the rest of the article.)