The Neal Kocurek Memorial Austin Convention Center is a multi-purpose convention center located in Austin, Texas. The building is the home of the Texas Rollergirls, and was also home to the Austin Torosbasketball team, until their move to the Cedar Park Center in nearby Cedar Park in 2010. The facility is also the primary "home base" for the internationally renowned South by Southwest technology, music and film conference/festival, held annually in March.
In 2025, the existing Austin Convention Center is scheduled for demolition to facilitate the construction of a significantly larger replacement facility. This $1.6 billion project aims to double the convention center's size, with an anticipated completion and opening in 2029. Funding for the project will be derived from the convention center's existing revenue streams and a 2% increase in the hotel occupancy tax approved in 2019[4][5].
The current convention center's capacity limitations have hindered Austin's ability to host major events, such as the Democratic National Convention[6], due to the absence of suitably sized venues. While the expansion is intended to address this issue, it remains uncertain whether the new facility will ultimately provide sufficient capacity for events of that scale.
History
The Austin Convention Center interior
In the early 1980s civic leaders became concerned that Austin was being passed over as a site for major conventions because the city's main event facility, Palmer Auditorium, was too small. In 1983 the city council unveiled a concept for a $35 million convention center as part of a $350 million complex of hotels and parkland on the south shore of Town Lake (now Lady Bird Lake). Resistance to this plan by neighborhood groups near the proposed site and downtown business leaders caused the city to consider several other sites, finally choosing a downtown site near Waller Creek for construction. Financing was provided for by a US$69 million bond sale, approved by referendum on July 29, 1989.[7] The grand opening ceremony took place on July 4, 1992.[8]
On September 1, 1999, construction began on an expansion aimed at nearly doubling the size of the facility from 441,000 square feet (41,000m2) to 881,400 square feet (81,880m2).[9] The grand reopening took place on May 18, 2002.[10] The enlarged Convention Center's five exhibit halls have a combined 247,052 square feet (22,951.9m2) of column-free space. There are 54 meeting rooms and two ballrooms, including one of the largest ballrooms in Texas with 40,510 square feet (3,764m2).[11]
The Austin City Council changed the name of the Austin Convention Center on July 29, 2004, to honor civic leader Dr. W. Neal Kocurek (1936–2004), who helped rally community support for construction of a convention center for Austin. Kocurek died after suffering a stroke on March 29, 2004. The formal dedication took place on December 2, 2004.[11]
On February 22, 2007, former NBA player and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member Dennis Johnson suffered a heart attack outside the convention center after a practice by the Austin Toros basketball team. Johnson, who was the Toros' head coach, died later that day.[12]
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