Orange County Convention Center

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The Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) is the primary public convention center in Central Florida. It is located in two buildings straddling International Drive in Orlando, Florida. The OCCC now ranks second in size in the United States, with over 2.2 million ft² of exhibition space. The two buildings contain 7 million ft² of total space.

[edit] History

Originally the Orange County Convention and Civic Center (OCCCC), it was an idea borne out of a 1977 law passed by Florida's State Legislature that permits counties to collect a "Tourist Development Tax" on top of regular sales tax on hotel room stays, with the approval of the county's voters, for state-approved purposes. In April 1978 in a special election, the voters of Orange County approved a 2% Tourist Development Tax (the limit set by the state) for the purpose of building a Convention and Civic Center. That August, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approved a location for the OCCCC in Orlando Central Park, on International Drive, and drew up plans for a 325,000-ft² gross area (32,800 m²) facility. In 1979, Orlando Central Park and the BCC came to a deal whereby the Orlando Central Park would donate land for the initial facility, and give the county an option on 45 additional acres for future expansion. Orlando Central Park agreed to commit adjacent lands for hotel and tourist development, with an incentive of one cent per taxed dollar of the TDT each year for 30 years.

Phase I was completed in February 1983 at a cost of $54 million. The Boston Pops Orchestra played at the Grand Opening, and 14,000 people attended the Open House.

In June 1984, the BCC exercised its 45-acre option for $2 million and began planning Phase II. The TDT was raised to 3% by a State Law in 1986, and groundbreaking occurred in February 1987 on Phase II. It was completed in January 1989, adding 150,000 ft² of exhibition space to increase it to 344,790 ft² of total exhibition space, and adding an additional 100,000 ft² of meeting and support space.

That very month, an additional 1% was permitted for the TDT, increasing it to 4% The BCC approved an additional three phases to the OCCCC (Phases IIA, III and IV), and improvements to the Citrus Bowl, its first non-Convention Center TDT project.

Phase IIA, completed in December 1990, added 100,000 ft² more support space, used largely for office space and registration. The next month, planning for Phase III was begun. By December 1992, "Civic" was dropped from the name, and the area became the Orange County Convention Center.

Phase III was completed in January 1996, adding 383,400 ft² of exhibition space, at a cost of $219.5 million. Phase IV followed that August at a cost of $198.7 million, adding another 367,200 ft² of exhibition space and about 100,000 ft² more meeting space. A retrofit of Phase I, completed in December 1997 at a cost of $32 million, opened up 8,200 ft² more. By 1998, the OCCC had 1,103,538 ft² of exhibition space over a total building space of over 4 million ft².

In June 1998, the BCC got a fifth cent approved for the TDT, partly for a grand Phase V, which would add a total of 3 million ft² of space to the OCCC. That December, they paid Universal Orlando Resort $69 million for 239 acres of land across International Drive from the original OCCC. The Martinez Convention Center Commission, named after then-Orange County Chairman Mel Martinez, was created to oversee planning and construction of Phase V.

Ground broke on Phase V in August 2000 after a large convention organizer, Reed Exposition Companies, agrees to move 42 conventions to Orlando into the new phase. It opened one month ahead of schedule in September 2003. Today, the first four phases are referred to as the "West Building", and Phase V is referred to as the "North/South Building", as it is divided into North and South Exhibition Halls which can be joined to form one large exhibition space or subdivided to hold up to eight different exhibitions at once. The North/South Building has over 1.1 million ft² of exhibition space. Around the same time, an elevated walkway was built over International Drive connecting the two buildings.

In 2004, OCCC acted as a staging area for relief operations following Hurricane Charley, and Frances and Jeanne thereafter. Disruptions to convention operations were minimal, and a feared reduction of convention booking did not occur afterward.

In 2005, a second entrance was finished on the rear side of the West Building (facing Interstate 4), coinciding with the completion of a flyover bridge, permitting traffic to cross from Westwood Blvd. over the Beachline to the rear of the West Building.

In 2006, the BCC raised the Tourist Development Tax to six cents. Half of the extra cent will be used to pay off bonds connected to the New Orlando Magic Arena, further renovation of the Citrus Bowl, and a new Performing Arts Center in Orlando.