Indianapolis is to re-launch itself as a venue for international conferences when its expanded convention centre opens next January.
The Indiana Convention Center (ICC) will have doubled in size after a $275m investment in the upgraded facility.
The new centre with 254,000 sq ft of exhibition space, 63,000 sq ft of meeting rooms and 100,000 sq ft of pre-function space will be the15th largest convention centre in the US.
A month after the ICC opens, Indianapolis will also see the opening of new 1,005 room J W Marriott hotel within walking distance of the centre.
Warren Wilkinson, senior vp for marketing and communications for Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association, said more than $3bn had been spent on new and upgraded facilities in the city.
As well as the ICC, these included a new airport 15 minutes from the city centre and a new American football stadium.
In the wake of the new Marriott complex which includes three more hotels as well as substantial meeting space, hotels in the city had also spent $71m on renovations.
These included a Hilton, an Omni, a Hyatt Regency, a Westin and a Crowne Plaza.
Wilkinson said the city would have 4,700 hotel rooms all connected to the new centre by walkways.
"No other city in the US can duplicate that. It will be a long time before we have rivals on the hotel front," Wilkinson said.
"It's our ‘Wow!' factor. Everyone comments on the convenience. It's a great city to live in and to attend conventions with parks, canals, restaurants and shopping malls."
He said associations were still making decisions on their convention later than usual and the corporate market still not completely back.
"But we are ahead of our booking plans and we are having a lot of success. We are starting to see our market rise.
"What we are seeing is less attendance at meetings but people are still meeting. They are being more judicious in who attends.
"Before we had a nice convention centre but it was not considered top because of its size. But with our new centre, we can now compete with Chicago, San Diego and Boston. We are now in the tier one cities in the US," he said.
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