Convene On Site: DC Convention Hotel Groundbreaking

Technically, it was a groundbreaking ceremony for the long-delayed Washington, D.C., convention center hotel project, but really, Wednesday morning's event could have been a local chapter meeting for Meetings Mean Business. Because almost every single one of the 13 VIP speakers on stage -- from DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, to Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray, to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, to Marriott International Chairman and CEO J.W. Marriott Jr. -- talked about the local economic impact of the 1,175-room, $520-million Washington Marriott Marquis property that is going to be built right across the street from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

Convene On Site: DC Convention Center

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., is the same size as it ever was, but has a lot more space. It only sounds like it violates the laws of physics. Actually, the new space is the result of a recently completed retrofit project that has transformed unused and underused areas around the building into 48,000 square feet of additional meeting space. During a tour this afternoon, Washington Convention and Sports Authority President and CEO Greg O'Dell, along with Vice President of Facility Operations John Collins and Vice President of Communications and Marketing Chinyere Hubbard, took me through the results -- on what happened to be move-out day for the high-profile AIPAC Policy Conference 2010, one of the first events to take advantage of the convention center's enhancements.

Thanks to the $14-million retrofit, Walter E. Washington now boasts two glassed-in meeting rooms overlooking the building's Grand Lobby (that's Greg and John standing inside one of them in the top photo), plus a series of "skyfold walls" that deploy quietly down from the ceiling to subdivide the wide-open East and West Registration areas into as many as six more rooms (see the photo directly above). But what I saw this afternoon was ... not too much of that. The retrofit project has been integrated almost seamlessly into the existing space, meaning the Grand Lobby is still a cathedral of light and air, and the building's elegant framing and its overall sense of flow are undisturbed.

The whole project was designed to meet a need that Greg told me an increasing number of events have -- same amount of exhibit space but more educational programming, which means more breakout rooms. Not that you'd notice them at Walter E. Washington.

PHOTOS: DBKing