Convention Center grand opening set

Nov. 18—A public grand opening for the new downtown Terre Haute Convention Center is slated for April 9, 2022, said Tennille Wanner, general manager for the Terre Haute Convention Center for Spectra Venue Management.

The convention center is slated to be substantially completed on March 1, 2022, up from an an original completion date of April 27, 2022.

Wanner on Thursday updated the Vigo County Capital Improvement Board on new management personnel for the convention center. Martell Lewis, a graduate of Indiana State University and Terre Haute North Vigo High School, is the new director of finance. Lewis previously worked in hospitality, health care, and as a financial data analyst for a defense contracting company.

Pam Chamberlain, who worked at ISU as an event specialist-conference and event services, will be the director of sales and marketing.

A director of food and beverage and a chef position are to be filled by the end of December or early January, Wanner said.

Wanner said that in addition to conducting hard-hat tours for qualified business that hosts events and reaching out to regional and state associations, "we are also reaching out to a lot of the college football teams. We have learned a lot of those folks stay in Bloomington or Evansville because they travel with 100 to 150 people. They need hotels, meeting space and they eat a lot of food, so we want them here because we can accommodate all of it," she said. "They are coming here anyway, so we might as well capture all of it."

Wanner said the "sweet spot" for the convention center will be conferences for 300 to 500 people events, but it can handle 700 person banquets.

"Our goal is to get conferences that are here for multiple days," Wanner said.

On the heels of the Indiana Gaming Commission selected Churchill Downs for a new Vigo County casino, Wanner said the casino will be an added attraction for conferences.

Commissioner Chris Switzer said the county welcomes the new casino operator "with open arms and look forward to doing business with them, as a CIB and as a community. I would also like to also express my sincere thanks for Greg Gibson and his wife, Amy, and two children, for not only being with the CIB and Vigo County and city of Terre Haute since the inception of the convention center, but also for all the hard work and dedication they have done for making the casino even possible for Terre Haute and Vigo County."

Switzer said a Larry Bird Museum has been delayed due to Gibson's work on the casino project. Gibson holds a number of Bird memorabilia items for the museum. Todd Schafer, Senior Project Manager, of the Nations Group, said CSO Architects is working on a final museum design.

Mayor Duke Bennett said "the whole concept of having a CIB fits into our community plan, with a casino and all of that. I would echo Chris' comments about the contributions that Greg made to our community, but you can see what this has blossomed into, there is so much more opportunity beyond where we are at today.

"I appreciate the community support with what we are trying to do with the convention center and we need to be supportive of Churchill Downs coming here," the mayor said.

"It will be a huge addition to our community," Bennett said.

Construction update

Brian Kooistra, chief operating officer at Garmong Construction Services, said the addition of three cameras for the parking garage resulted in an increase cost of $78,175, but the $34,891,153 project is on budget. The project still has $710,472 in contingency costs, according to Baker Tilley, the accounting firm on the project.

Kooistra said concrete work and electrical work has not been done for the museum, pending final design plans.

"There has been an abundance of progress on the convention center," he said. "Ceramic tile in the restrooms, both the floor and wall tile is complete. The kitchen flooring, an epoxy floor, is complete in anticipation of kitchen equipment arriving the first of December."

"Ceiling grid throughout the building is complete and wood paneling within the ballroom is complete," Kooistra said.

Ongoing work includes terrazzo flooring.

"The floor has been laid, but it is a multiple-step progress, so they lay it kind of like concrete, then they come through and grind it and then grind it again and then polish it. They are in the grinding phase on the terrazzo floor right now," Kooistra said.

"Lighting fixtures are going up. Permanent sliding doors are in on the front and rear entrance, also the glass canopy over the top of the main entrance is now installed," Kooistra said.

Other work underway is installing stainless steel decorative handrail on the main staircase, installing carpeting in the main ballroom, and next week asphalt is slated to be poured on the convention center's parking lot.

Also, a connector walkway from the Hilton Garden Inn to the convention center is expected to be fully enclosed next month. The walkway will use existing windows from the hotel that will be extended to the walkway, Kooistra said.

"Possibly Friday or Monday, we will be moving the windows from the Hilton Garden Inn out to the new connector. We are building a temporary wall in the (hotel) to seal that off and make it weather tight," Kooistra said.

The convention center's garage is slated to be substantially complete next month.

In an update on the collection of food and beverage taxes used to construct and maintain the convention center, Jason Semler of Baker Tilley said the county through November has collected $2.492 million, which is higher than the $2.303 million in 2020 and $2.305 million in 2019.

"So in the first 11 months of this year, the county has already surpassed what you collected in 12 months for 2019 and for 12 months in 2020," Semler told the board.

Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com. Follow on Twitter@TribStarHoward.