Synopsis:
Kansas City is now home to one of the ten largest convention center ballrooms in the country with its new 46,450-square-foot ballroom. The ballroom can hold 4,650 people theater-style or 3,000 people for meal functions. Designed for LEED certification, the green building features a day-lighting system that allows natural light into the room, cutting-edge lighting technology that can be programmed to any color and a 38-foot-high glass wall that runs the entire length of the south wall. The ballroom was part of a multi-phase renovation project at the convention center that included a $14 million makeover at the Music Hall that expanded the stage and reconfigured the seats to improve sightlines. In 2005, the convention center's meeting space was completely renovated.

Full Story:
A wave of change is moving through Kansas City's downtown district. One of the developments leading the charge is the $135 million expansion and renovation of the Kansas City Convention Center.

The centerpiece of the 135,000-square-foot expansion includes a 46,450-square-foot grand ballroom/ multipurpose space. Together with the Power & Light District and Sprint Center, the area will create a complex for conventioneers and visitors.

A new multipurpose complex, which now includes 46,450-square-feet of grand ballroom/multipurpose space and 35,000 square feet of pre-function space, is able to hold events for 6,000 people. The original 3,900-square-foot ballroom remains in place for smaller events. Included in the expansion are 1,300 parking spaces and new kitchen facilities, which were installed to coincide with the ballroom/multipurpose space expansion.

The company that designed the ballroom, HNTB Architecture, created a water theme for the ballroom, paying tribute to Kansas City's birth on the nexus of the Kansas and Missouri rivers and Kansas City's fountains. Many of the complicated design elements and building materials use state-of-the-art technology to accomplish the innovative water theme.

Ballroom construction began in early 2005 and completed in spring 2007. The renovation of the Convention Center was finished in December 2004. The Kansas City Convention Center currently has 388,800 square feet of exhibit space, 98,000 square feet of meeting space and 23,900 square feet of ballroom space.

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Photo Credit: Photos Courtesy of the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association.