The long, winding road to a new center
Published: Sun, Aug. 31, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Sun, Aug. 31, 2008 01:43AM
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close1977: Raleigh Convention and Conference Center, built for $18 million, opens near Memorial Auditorium.
1991: State legislature passes law allowing Wake County to levy a 6 percent tax on motel rooms and 1 percent tax on prepared meals. The money is to be spent on projects that encourage tourism.
NOVEMBER 1992: Raleigh voters defeat a $95 million convention center bond proposal, 58 percent to 42 percent, that would have used the hotel-and-meals tax to build a new center. The taxes are later used to finance the RBC Center, the Exploris museum and its IMAX theater and the SAS Soccer Park (now WakeMed Soccer Park), among other projects.
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OCTOBER 1993: Raleigh votes elect Tom Fetzer as mayor and Paul Coble and John Odom as City Council members. All three candidates heavily criticized the idea of spending millions for a new convention center.
JANUARY 1997: Raleigh Convention and Conference Center reopens after a 15-month renovation that cost $14.2 million and added 40,000 square feet of ballroom, conference and exhibit space. The addition brings the center's total space to more than 130,000 square feet.
NOVEMBER 2001: Charles Meeker narrowly defeats Mayor Paul Coble in the race for mayor.
JANUARY 2002: Raleigh City Council and Wake County commissioners vote to pay for a feasibility study for a new convention center.
AUGUST 2002: In a 100-page study, Florida-based consulting group KPMG says the current center is too old, small, antiquated and unattractive to promote the kind of bustling downtown envisioned by tourism and business leaders.
JANUARY 2004: Raleigh City Council and Wake County commissioners vote to build a new convention center and high-rise Marriott hotel at the south end of downtown. Projected cost for the center is $180 million. Officials also agree that private developers will build the hotel with a $20 million public subsidy.
SEPTEMBER 2008: New 500,000-square-foot Raleigh Convention Center opens. Final price tag is $221 million. To date, the center has booked 135 events.
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