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Nation’s First All-Electric Conference Center Opening Downtown
With its expanse of dark blue walls and rows upon rows of recessed lighting in white and wood-toned ceilings, one could imagine events of every kind coming to life when entering the 10,600-square-foot ballroom on the second floor of the new Ithaca Downtown Conference Center, which is slated to officially open in July 1.
“It was initially supposed to open in the fall, then the winter,” said Katherine Taylor, who was hired recently to the position of general manager (GM) of the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center.
The new apartments located above the conference center, comprising 40 units of supportive housing and 141 units of affordable housing, added some complications to the facility’s opening. Because of the mixed-use aspect of the complex, additional coordination is needed to open both parts of the building at the same time.
“Coordinating all of the logistics is really key to getting the ribbon-cutting together,” said Craig Liston, regional vice president of convention centers for ASM Global, a venue and event management company that will help manage the conference center.
“For people to trust that we’re going to open in July and sign contracts with us, that’s been a huge challenge—just getting some traction and getting people through the doors,” said Taylor.
Taylor had worked in Ithaca during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, from July 2020 to December 2021, as the director of sales and marketing at The Hotel Ithaca.
Taylor is looking forward to the finishing touches all coming together within the next few weeks. Currently, conference center employees can only go in the building with the contractors and hardhats on.
Taylor and the other members of the conference center’s executive team are currently renting office space at the office of Welliver, the building’s construction company, and it will be nice to move into their offices located at the conference center, Taylor said. The last hurdle was passing the necessary fire suppression safety tests, which the building passed last week.
“So, fingers crossed, we can start moving furniture in next week,” Taylor said May 14. “And we’ll be working in the space. It’s going to change our lives.”
Seeing the space finished will be very satisfying, she said. “Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful,” Taylor said. “It is very, very lovely, along with it being green and clean and sustainable.”
As the first fully electric conference center in the nation, it employs as many eco-friendly practices as possible.
“I think in the Ithaca market, sustainability is very important,” Taylor said. “We are really looking to partner with the agricultural community and hoping to highlight the local agriculture here.”
“A lot of meeting planners are charting their impact on the environment, so the easier we can make that decision for them in choosing that green site the better,” Liston agreed. Taylor is looking forward to adding jobs to the local economy, as is Liston.
“We’re looking at the apartments above as potential labor,” Liston said, adding that the hospitality aspect of the business will most likely employ 12 to 14 people, but large events will require up to 60 people on site. He said ASM is planning outreach to the building’s tenants. “You can’t beat the commute,” he said.
Taylor also expects that the conference center will bring an increase in local spending.
“We’re going to have the ability to bring large regional and state conferences to Ithaca, which has not been able to happen before,” she said, adding that Ithaca’s hotels are a convenient amenity to the area that also stand to benefit from the additional events hosted by the conference center.
There are six conferences tentatively booked for 2024 and 2025, but Taylor said bookings will start coming in quickly once the conference center is fully operational.
- Jaime Cone Hughes, Tompkins Weekly, 5/22/24
With its expanse of dark blue walls and rows upon rows of recessed lighting in white and wood-toned ceilings, one could imagine events of every kind coming to life when entering the 10,600-square-foot ballroom on the second floor of the new Ithaca Downtown Conference Center, which is slated to officially open in July 1.
“It was initially supposed to open in the fall, then the winter,” said Katherine Taylor, who was hired recently to the position of general manager (GM) of the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center.
The new apartments located above the conference center, comprising 40 units of supportive housing and 141 units of affordable housing, added some complications to the facility’s opening. Because of the mixed-use aspect of the complex, additional coordination is needed to open both parts of the building at the same time.
“Coordinating all of the logistics is really key to getting the ribbon-cutting together,” said Craig Liston, regional vice president of convention centers for ASM Global, a venue and event management company that will help manage the conference center.
“For people to trust that we’re going to open in July and sign contracts with us, that’s been a huge challenge—just getting some traction and getting people through the doors,” said Taylor.
Taylor had worked in Ithaca during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, from July 2020 to December 2021, as the director of sales and marketing at The Hotel Ithaca.
Taylor is looking forward to the finishing touches all coming together within the next few weeks. Currently, conference center employees can only go in the building with the contractors and hardhats on.
Taylor and the other members of the conference center’s executive team are currently renting office space at the office of Welliver, the building’s construction company, and it will be nice to move into their offices located at the conference center, Taylor said. The last hurdle was passing the necessary fire suppression safety tests, which the building passed last week.
“So, fingers crossed, we can start moving furniture in next week,” Taylor said May 14. “And we’ll be working in the space. It’s going to change our lives.”
Seeing the space finished will be very satisfying, she said. “Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful,” Taylor said. “It is very, very lovely, along with it being green and clean and sustainable.”
As the first fully electric conference center in the nation, it employs as many eco-friendly practices as possible.
“I think in the Ithaca market, sustainability is very important,” Taylor said. “We are really looking to partner with the agricultural community and hoping to highlight the local agriculture here.”
“A lot of meeting planners are charting their impact on the environment, so the easier we can make that decision for them in choosing that green site the better,” Liston agreed. Taylor is looking forward to adding jobs to the local economy, as is Liston.
“We’re looking at the apartments above as potential labor,” Liston said, adding that the hospitality aspect of the business will most likely employ 12 to 14 people, but large events will require up to 60 people on site. He said ASM is planning outreach to the building’s tenants. “You can’t beat the commute,” he said.
Taylor also expects that the conference center will bring an increase in local spending.
“We’re going to have the ability to bring large regional and state conferences to Ithaca, which has not been able to happen before,” she said, adding that Ithaca’s hotels are a convenient amenity to the area that also stand to benefit from the additional events hosted by the conference center.
There are six conferences tentatively booked for 2024 and 2025, but Taylor said bookings will start coming in quickly once the conference center is fully operational.
- Jaime Cone Hughes, Tompkins Weekly, 5/22/24
News and Events
Cayuga Lake Summit on July 16 at Stewart Park
Cayuga Lake Environmental Action Now and the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network present:
The Cayuga Lake Summit
Tuesday, July 16, 2024, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., at the Large Pavilion of Stewart Park in Ithaca, NY
Environmental leaders and community members are invited to join us for an educational evening program featuring water quality experts and the opportunity to network with individuals and groups focused on protecting clean and safe water in the Cayuga Lake Watershed and beyond.
Session 1 – How Sustainable Winter Management (SWiM®) Standards Help Reduce Road Salt Pollution
Keynote Speaker: Phill Sexton
Phill Sexton is the founder of WIT Advisers, a consulting firm specializing in winter and landscape management. In addition to his work with WIT Advisers, Phill also played a key role in drafting best management practices in the Adirondack Road Salt Task Force report, which aimed to address the environmental impacts of road salt use in the Adirondack Park.
Session 2 – Tracing and Treating PFAS in the Finger Lakes Brief Presentations and Panel Discussion:
Brune Boukobza and Laura Akey, Research Assistants, Helbling Research Group, Cornell University
Nicolas Ganzon, P.E., President of The Water and Carbon Group
David Pannucci, P.E., Regional Engineer, Waste Connections
Douglas Barnes, Environmental Health Specialist, Tompkins County Whole Health
Dr. Murray McBride, Emeritus Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University
Following the presentations there will be social time for networking and enjoying Stewart Park together.
Please consider bringing informational resources or tabling materials to share. We are looking forward to working with you to make this a fun and fruitful event.
Several groups, including Mothers Out Front, Seneca Farm BioChar, The Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ Learning Project, NY Tree Crop Alliance, NOFA, Cayuga Lake Watershed Network will have booths in the hallway with pertinent food system information.
When: Tuesday, July 16, 2024, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Where: Large Pavilion at Stewart Park, Ithaca, NY
Next TCCPI Meeting
Friday, July 26, 2024
9:00 - 11:00 am
The monthly TCCPI meetings have moved online. For Zoom info, contact Peter Bardaglio, the TCCPI coordinator, for further details at pbardaglio@gmail.com.
If you have any issues you would like to bring to the TCCPI monthly meetings, please e-mail us at info@tccpi.org. General meetings are on the last Friday of every month, except for November and December. Because of the holidays, the November-December meeting is held on the second Friday of December.
The Ithaca 2030 District
Visit TCCPI's latest project, the Ithaca 2030 District, an interdisciplinary public-private collaboration working to create a groundbreaking high-performance building district in Downtown Ithaca.
Cayuga Lake Environmental Action Now and the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network present:
The Cayuga Lake Summit
Tuesday, July 16, 2024, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., at the Large Pavilion of Stewart Park in Ithaca, NY
Environmental leaders and community members are invited to join us for an educational evening program featuring water quality experts and the opportunity to network with individuals and groups focused on protecting clean and safe water in the Cayuga Lake Watershed and beyond.
Session 1 – How Sustainable Winter Management (SWiM®) Standards Help Reduce Road Salt Pollution
Keynote Speaker: Phill Sexton
Phill Sexton is the founder of WIT Advisers, a consulting firm specializing in winter and landscape management. In addition to his work with WIT Advisers, Phill also played a key role in drafting best management practices in the Adirondack Road Salt Task Force report, which aimed to address the environmental impacts of road salt use in the Adirondack Park.
Session 2 – Tracing and Treating PFAS in the Finger Lakes Brief Presentations and Panel Discussion:
Brune Boukobza and Laura Akey, Research Assistants, Helbling Research Group, Cornell University
Nicolas Ganzon, P.E., President of The Water and Carbon Group
David Pannucci, P.E., Regional Engineer, Waste Connections
Douglas Barnes, Environmental Health Specialist, Tompkins County Whole Health
Dr. Murray McBride, Emeritus Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University
Following the presentations there will be social time for networking and enjoying Stewart Park together.
Please consider bringing informational resources or tabling materials to share. We are looking forward to working with you to make this a fun and fruitful event.
Several groups, including Mothers Out Front, Seneca Farm BioChar, The Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ Learning Project, NY Tree Crop Alliance, NOFA, Cayuga Lake Watershed Network will have booths in the hallway with pertinent food system information.
When: Tuesday, July 16, 2024, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Where: Large Pavilion at Stewart Park, Ithaca, NY
Next TCCPI Meeting
Friday, July 26, 2024
9:00 - 11:00 am
The monthly TCCPI meetings have moved online. For Zoom info, contact Peter Bardaglio, the TCCPI coordinator, for further details at pbardaglio@gmail.com.
If you have any issues you would like to bring to the TCCPI monthly meetings, please e-mail us at info@tccpi.org. General meetings are on the last Friday of every month, except for November and December. Because of the holidays, the November-December meeting is held on the second Friday of December.
The Ithaca 2030 District
Visit TCCPI's latest project, the Ithaca 2030 District, an interdisciplinary public-private collaboration working to create a groundbreaking high-performance building district in Downtown Ithaca.
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