Officials break ground on Georgia events center

By spring of 2012, meeting planners will have a new place to hold conferences in Georgia. Construction began in mid-June on the long-awaited Trade, Exhibition and Event (TEE) Center in Augusta. It will feature 38,000 square feet of flat-floor, column-free exhibit space attached to the Augusta Convention Center and 372-room Augusta Marriott Hotel and Suites. A Hyatt Place hotel is proposed catty-corner to the TEE Center.

“Augusta is excited to offer meeting planners the ability to have all they need under one roof,” said Barry White, president and CEO of the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau. The exhibit space will be able to hold 188, 10-by-10-foot booths, accommodate 3,500 meeting attendees or 1,800 banquet guests, and have multiple layout possibilities, including the ability to be divided into two rooms. It is aiming to achieve LEED Certification.

The Augusta Chronicle reports that plans were delayed for the center for years as analysis revealed the $20 million in initial funding was not sufficient for construction, as well as controversies over future operations subsidies, an alleged vote-buying scheme involving future jobs at the parking facility and concerns over the need for such a facility in Augusta.