North Building, Phoenix Convention Center
Phoenix was among the top cities in several polls of frequent travelers last year. It ranked at the top of Hotwire’s list and 100 on the site’s Travel Value Index with low prices on world-class hotels and resorts. Calling Phoenix “a city that offers almost everything a vacationer could want,” the discount travel site said the outdoor adventures, breath-taking golf courses and trendy shopping in the “Beverly Hills of the desert” made it the city to beat.
Phoenix also added more points to its meetings resume: It got a lot greener with its new convention center and the opening of its new METRO Light Rail system.
Last July the U.S. Green Building Council awarded the convention center’s West Building a LEED Silver certification for its various green elements, and in January the center’s North Building opened, boasting a few green features of its own. The West Building, which contains 157,000 square feet of meeting and exhibition space, uses high Energy Star-compliant roofing materials, an elaborate recycling program, and low-flow toilets—resulting in a 42 percent water use reduction. And with more than 700 solar panels on the building, it’s estimated the building’s carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 95 metric tons a year. The building was also constructed from recycled material from the demolished Phoenix Civic Plaza.
Not to be outdone, the new North Building, which has 190,000 square feet of exhibit space, features a unique water-harvesting garden that reuses the condensation from the buildings’ HVAC units to water its landscaping. The new building, the final phase of the $600 million expansion of the Phoenix Convention Center, has six new food venues, including City Central Coffee. The coffee shop serves fair trade brews, including a blend created exclusively for the convention center.
The new light rail system adds to the city’s growing list of green features. Spanning 20 miles and connecting the cities of Tempe and Mesa, the system allows convention-goers to ride from the convention center to the hotel—and to all the museums and restaurants in between—with ease. For more information on Phoenix and its green initiatives, check out VisitPhoenix.com.
Other top destinations
Topping the lists of value U.S. destinations compiled by several travel industry publications and sites, beside Phoenix, are: Orlando, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Portland, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Miami and Milwaukee. —Laura Moss
