Convention Center Expansion Unveiled

Indianapolis-based Ratio Architects today unveiled final plans for a 420,000-square-foot expansion of the Indiana Convention Center, reports the Indianapolis Business Journal

Among the details: 254,000 square feet of additional exhibit space, 63,000 square feet of meeting rooms, a new banquet kitchen and 100,000 square feet of so-called "pre-function space" -- including a three-story entry pavilion planned for the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Georgia Street on the southside of downtown Indianapolis.

Plans also call for a covered connector between the convention center and Lucas Oil Stadium, which is being built to replace the RCA Dome. The connector will stretch south from the center along Capitol, then go underground at the CSX railroad tracks before crossing South Street.

Construction on the $275 million convention center project is slated to begin in late 2008, after the dome is torn down.

When complete, the expanded Indiana Convention Center will be the 16th-largest such facility in the country and the second-largest among Indianapolis' peer cities, behind only Atlanta.

Click here for more architectural renderings of the expansion project.