Santa Fe Weather
Santa Fe Convention Center Opens 2008
The Santa Fe Convention Center held its official opening September 25, 2008-the only date available when the new facility wasn't already busy and booked. Even as finishing touches on the building were taking place, the center hosted Santa Fe Mayor David Coss' state of the city speech on September 3 and several Santa Fe Fiesta events before going into an active fall schedule of meetings and multi-day conferences.
After, literally, 20+ years of talking about the need for a new convention center, dozens of city meetings, endless community input, numerous design reviews, and 22 months of construction, Santa Fe's newest-and greenest-municipal building is hard at work.
Details
Providing 40,000 square feet of event space, an 18,000 square foot ballroom, 11 breakout rooms, outdoor meeting areas, and a highly flexible floor plan, the Santa Fe convention center gives planners a new set of reasons to consider Santa Fe for a future event. Not only was the center designed with meetings in mind, it is one of the most environmentally responsible buildings in the city, fully in step with today's growing emphasis on green meetings. The center was designed to a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification.
The new center is divided into two buildings; the Community Building on the east end and the Convention Center on the west. On the ground floor of the Community Building are a new box office, the 2,500 square foot "Handcrafted in Santa Fe - a Community Gallery" art space, and a business center for the use of meeting and event planners. There are four meeting rooms and an outdoor terrace/event space upstairs.
The box office will sell tickets for events at the Lensic Performing Arts Center and other venues in town. The gallery space will be operated by the Santa Fe Arts Commission and display the work of Santa Fe artists not currently represented by other galleries in Santa Fe.
The upstairs meeting rooms include the Tesuque boardroom featuring hardwood floors, a handmade 16-place table, its own fireplace, and a private outdoor terrace. The three other meetings rooms, the Ohkay Owingeh, Nambe, and Pojoaque rooms, can be used as one large space or separated into individual meeting spaces. The 4 rooms are named for local Native American tribes. Each room has its own dedicated data lines and the whole building is served by high-speed, wireless internet connection.
All of the second story outdoor floors of the Community Building 'float,' allowing water to pass through to a lower collection area that feeds the building's 45,000 gallon water catchment tanks. The wide-open second floor terrace has raised planters that provide cooling for the roof and additional water collection. Although there are canales (for roof drainage), virtually no water runoff from either building is anticipated under normal conditions. All drainage will be captured and used for landscape irrigation.
The larger building is the Convention Center. Entrances from Marcy and Grant Street open into a spacious lobby with a two-story ceiling, fireplace, and custom made furniture. The Convention & Visitors Bureau's information area is just off the lobby with the bureau's administrative offices behind.
The Sweeney Ballroom is the heart of the convention center with 18,000 square feet of space, dividable with moveable walls into 5 individual areas. The entire space can be configured in many different ways and has a removable stage, large A/V monitors, and adjacent loading docks. Off the ballroom are 3 kitchens; 2 large facilities with walk-in freezers, multiple ovens, and six burner stoves, and one smaller kitchen for groups of less than 300.
There are 7 more meeting rooms in the convention center building; the Coronado, DeVargas, Peralta, Lamy, O'Keeffe, Milagro, and Kearny rooms. Each has its own pull down video screen and overhead projector plus data lines.
In keeping with Santa Fe's reputation as an internationally recognized art center, both buildings will feature extensive artwork, much of it sourced through the New Mexico Art in Public Places project. When installation is completed, the center will display more than $450,000 of original art throughout the two buildings.
Extensive measures were taken to minimize greenhouse gas emissions during construction and future operation of the building. There will be 3 recycling centers inside the buildings, multiple water stations with compostable cups are used to discourage plastic water bottles, rooms have occupancy lighting sensors and extensive natural light, and non-volatile carpet and paint have been used. Light fixtures from the old convention center lobby were saved and have been installed in the new building. 65,000 bricks recycled from the old center are being used in the new center's outdoor areas. 88 percent of the demolition was recycled and 75 percent of the new construction waste will be recycled.
The new center is located in the heart of historic downtown Santa Fe, surrounded by museums, attractions, restaurants, shopping, and within easy walking distance of 1,500 rooms in some of the city's finest hotels, inns, and B&B 's. Attractive, adaptable, and environmentally accountable, the convention center is truly the beginning of a new day for meetings, conferences, and events in Santa Fe.
Two photos of the new center are available through the bureau's online image library here: santafe.org/Image_Library/index.html. Follow the online directions for download access.
For information about holding events in the center and how the Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau can help make them a success, contact Mary Pat Kloenne in the bureau's sales office, 800-984-9984, fax, 505-955-6216, sales@santafe.org, or see the Meeting Planners section on the bureau's website, santafe.org/Meeting_Services/index.html .
For press information contact Steve Lewis, 505-473-9002, slewisnm@earthlink.net
After, literally, 20+ years of talking about the need for a new convention center, dozens of city meetings, endless community input, numerous design reviews, and 22 months of construction, Santa Fe's newest-and greenest-municipal building is hard at work.
Details
Providing 40,000 square feet of event space, an 18,000 square foot ballroom, 11 breakout rooms, outdoor meeting areas, and a highly flexible floor plan, the Santa Fe convention center gives planners a new set of reasons to consider Santa Fe for a future event. Not only was the center designed with meetings in mind, it is one of the most environmentally responsible buildings in the city, fully in step with today's growing emphasis on green meetings. The center was designed to a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification.
The new center is divided into two buildings; the Community Building on the east end and the Convention Center on the west. On the ground floor of the Community Building are a new box office, the 2,500 square foot "Handcrafted in Santa Fe - a Community Gallery" art space, and a business center for the use of meeting and event planners. There are four meeting rooms and an outdoor terrace/event space upstairs.
The box office will sell tickets for events at the Lensic Performing Arts Center and other venues in town. The gallery space will be operated by the Santa Fe Arts Commission and display the work of Santa Fe artists not currently represented by other galleries in Santa Fe.
The upstairs meeting rooms include the Tesuque boardroom featuring hardwood floors, a handmade 16-place table, its own fireplace, and a private outdoor terrace. The three other meetings rooms, the Ohkay Owingeh, Nambe, and Pojoaque rooms, can be used as one large space or separated into individual meeting spaces. The 4 rooms are named for local Native American tribes. Each room has its own dedicated data lines and the whole building is served by high-speed, wireless internet connection.
All of the second story outdoor floors of the Community Building 'float,' allowing water to pass through to a lower collection area that feeds the building's 45,000 gallon water catchment tanks. The wide-open second floor terrace has raised planters that provide cooling for the roof and additional water collection. Although there are canales (for roof drainage), virtually no water runoff from either building is anticipated under normal conditions. All drainage will be captured and used for landscape irrigation.
The larger building is the Convention Center. Entrances from Marcy and Grant Street open into a spacious lobby with a two-story ceiling, fireplace, and custom made furniture. The Convention & Visitors Bureau's information area is just off the lobby with the bureau's administrative offices behind.
The Sweeney Ballroom is the heart of the convention center with 18,000 square feet of space, dividable with moveable walls into 5 individual areas. The entire space can be configured in many different ways and has a removable stage, large A/V monitors, and adjacent loading docks. Off the ballroom are 3 kitchens; 2 large facilities with walk-in freezers, multiple ovens, and six burner stoves, and one smaller kitchen for groups of less than 300.
There are 7 more meeting rooms in the convention center building; the Coronado, DeVargas, Peralta, Lamy, O'Keeffe, Milagro, and Kearny rooms. Each has its own pull down video screen and overhead projector plus data lines.
In keeping with Santa Fe's reputation as an internationally recognized art center, both buildings will feature extensive artwork, much of it sourced through the New Mexico Art in Public Places project. When installation is completed, the center will display more than $450,000 of original art throughout the two buildings.
Extensive measures were taken to minimize greenhouse gas emissions during construction and future operation of the building. There will be 3 recycling centers inside the buildings, multiple water stations with compostable cups are used to discourage plastic water bottles, rooms have occupancy lighting sensors and extensive natural light, and non-volatile carpet and paint have been used. Light fixtures from the old convention center lobby were saved and have been installed in the new building. 65,000 bricks recycled from the old center are being used in the new center's outdoor areas. 88 percent of the demolition was recycled and 75 percent of the new construction waste will be recycled.
The new center is located in the heart of historic downtown Santa Fe, surrounded by museums, attractions, restaurants, shopping, and within easy walking distance of 1,500 rooms in some of the city's finest hotels, inns, and B&B 's. Attractive, adaptable, and environmentally accountable, the convention center is truly the beginning of a new day for meetings, conferences, and events in Santa Fe.
Two photos of the new center are available through the bureau's online image library here: santafe.org/Image_Library/index.html. Follow the online directions for download access.
For information about holding events in the center and how the Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau can help make them a success, contact Mary Pat Kloenne in the bureau's sales office, 800-984-9984, fax, 505-955-6216, sales@santafe.org, or see the Meeting Planners section on the bureau's website, santafe.org/Meeting_Services/index.html .
For press information contact Steve Lewis, 505-473-9002, slewisnm@earthlink.net