CONVENTION CENTER AUTHORITY ANNOUNCES FINAL CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

CONVENTION CENTER AUTHORITY ANNOUNCES FINAL CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 3, 2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Convention Center Authority announced this morning the construction portion of the budget for the Music City Center was $7.5 million under the budgeted $585 million.

"It is unheard of for a project of this size to come in under budget," said Marty Dickens, Chair of the Convention Center Authority. "Our project team did a great job with efficiencies and undertook strict value engineering to ensure that the construction came in not only on time but also under budget."

Larry Atema, senior project and development manager for the construction project, discussed the cost savings during his review of the project's final budget at the monthly meeting of the Authority. Other final project announcements included 30 percent DBE participation, totaling $137 million spent with small, women- and minority-owned businesses, and a total of 7,500 workers on the Music City Center compared to the original projection of 3,000.

Charles Starks, President/CEO of the Music City Center, announced November numbers and economic impact so far for the fiscal year 2014. The Music City Center hosted 32 events with 27,779 attendees in November. These events generated 9,651 room nights for a total of $9.4 million in economic impact. To date, the Music City Center has generated over $43 million in economic impact for the fiscal year 2014. Tax collections continue to outperform projections and the Music City Center portion of tax collections was up 17 percent year over year for September 2013.

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About the Music City Center

The Music City Center, Nashville’s convention center, features a 353,143 square foot exhibit hall, the 57,500 square foot Karl F. Dean Grand Ballroom, and an 18,000 square foot Davidson Ballroom. The building includes an art collection featuring local and regional artists, a covered three-level parking garage with 1,800 spaces, and is LEED Gold certified. The Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame is also located inside the Music City Center at the corner of 6^th Avenue and Demonbreun.